Secret of Longevity: Green Tea and Raw Fish Help Japanese Women Outlive British Women

The secret to live to a ripe old age is in the magic pill of a right diet .

The latest data released by the U.K. Office for National Statistics reveals that Japanese women outlive their English counterparts. On average, Japanese women live up to 86.4 years while British women live up to 82.7 years. The secret to Japanese women's longer life, according to the researchers is not all that complicated.

A diet rich in raw fish and green tea is the secret of their longevity.

British women can also extend their lives if they adhere to the dietary patterns of their Asian counterparts, says The Times report. A staple Japanese diet includes low-calorie food taken in controlled quantity.

Naomi Moriyama,  the co-author of the "Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat: Secrets of My Mother's Tokyo Kitchen," said on an average a Japanese woman consumes around 25 percent lesser calories than her English counterpart.

Above all, the diet of Japanese women is rich in food items that boost their health and stave off major diseases. On an average, Japanese women consume three servings of fish every week, in small quantities. Their intake of whole grains and vegetables is high. All this is balanced with soy products such as tofu and konbu seaweed. Compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, they also eat a lot of squids and octopus, which are rich in taurine and help reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, Crag Wilcox, a leading gerontologist, told The Times.

 Reuters had earlier reported that over 51,000 centenarians reside in Japan and the country has the highest population of centenarians in the world.

Japanese men, on the other hand, lag behind as their average life expectancy is 79.9 years. This could be due to a working and drinking culture that is much similar to Britain's, say the study researchers.