health

What does 3 months of Yoshinoya beef bowls do to your body? Medical study announces results

36 Comments
By Casey Baseel, RocketNews24

Beef bowls are cheap, tasty and filling, so does that mean they have to be bad for you?

Yoshinoya is the biggest purveyor of one of Japan’s favorite convenient meals: the beef bowl, or "gyudon," as it’s called in Japanese. With Yoshinoya locations covering the country, open from early in the morning until late at night, the chain boasts a loyal legion of repeat customers. As a matter of fact, if there’s a branch near their campus or workplace, some people may eat Yoshinoya’s beef bowls on a near-daily basis.

But does a steady stream of gyudon have any adverse effects on the body? To find out, Yoshinoya announced last fall that it would be launching a three-month study on a beef-bowl intensive diet, in cooperation with Kyoto’s Doshisha University. A total of 24 participants, both men and women, were selected for the experiment.

In addition to functioning as a restaurant, Yoshinoya also sells frozen packs of its gyudon toppings: stewed beef and onions. Each participant was instructed to eat one pack a day, while otherwise continuing with their preexisting lifestyle. They were requested to make no changes in their exercise or otherwise alter their eating habits.

The three-month period ended in early December, and the results have just been announced: Researchers found no significant changes in the weight, body fat percentage, or blood pressure of the participants, nor in their blood-sugar, cholesterol, or triglyceride levels, compared to data taken before starting the daily gyudon diet.

The results might seem surprising, but the presence of the onions means that gyudon isn’t an entirely meaty entrée, and the dish is completely free of deep-fried elements. It’s also important to note that the standard serving size of a Yoshonoya gyudon pack is a modest 135 grams, so again, the study’s results shouldn’t be taken as a green light to let your carnivorous cravings run wild. Still, it suggests that if you’re in need of a quick meal, you could do worse than a Yoshinoya beef bowl.

Source: Nikkei via Hachima Kiko

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Yoshinoya studying what happens to the body after three months of eating beef bowls -- How to make a mouth-watering Japanese beef bowl in just five minutes -- This restaurant’s in a bit of a pinch and is enlisting your help!

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


36 Comments
Login to comment

What a relief.....

5 ( +7 / -2 )

A study of Yoshinoya's food, financed by Yoshinoya with a pool of only 24 people, over a period of only 3 months... This sort of feels like a joke.

32 ( +37 / -5 )

No positive results? I'm disappointed !

6 ( +7 / -1 )

As most of the rest of washoku, gyudon is a well balanced dish, so I'm not surprised... Sushi is exceptionally unhealthy imho (fish and white rice)...

-19 ( +5 / -24 )

Hey, let's see someone eat off of Yoshinoya's menu for all their food intake over the course of a month, like the "Super-Size Me" movie.

Sushi is exceptionally unhealthy imho (fish and white rice)...

Stick to the raw fish alone, there is no problem there. But you would have to eat a TON of sushi daily to feel any effects from the "bad" parts of sushi,

The same can be said of just about anything....

Moderation!

6 ( +12 / -6 )

Had a 'megadon' from Sukiya I think and felt awful afterwards.

Gyudon for me was very much an occasional thing as a result.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I'm convinced. That's better value than tv advertising.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What does 3 months of Yoshinoya beef bowls do to your body? Medical study announces results

Should read:

What does 3 months of Yoshinoya beef bowls do to your body? Yoshinoya study announces results

12 ( +13 / -1 )

If the results had been unfavorable, you would never have heard about it. Doesn't affect me either way: almost 3 decades here and I have eaten their beef bowl exactly once. Nothing special.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

...does a steady stream of gyudon have any adverse effects on the body? To find out, Yoshinoya announced last fall that it would be launching a three-month study on a beef-bowl intensive diet, in cooperation with Kyoto’s Doshisha University...Researchers found no significant changes in the weight, body fat percentage, or blood pressure of the participants, nor in their blood-sugar, cholesterol, or triglyceride levels

Yet another story that sounds like satire right out of The Onion.

I do enjoy a bowl of Yoshinoya gyudon from time to time, but please... this is insulting. Also, Doshisa is considered to be a 'respectable' university. I am shocked that they would give their name to this corporate propaganda aimed at gullible consumers.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

No changes... well that's interesting, but did they control for pre-existing health habits? If for example prior to the study, all the participants' diet consisted of large bowls of starchy white rice, some small bits of boiled protein, and minimal vegetable content, would we really expect 3 months of Yoshinoya to really change anything?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

This is the dish that totally negates any idea that Japan's food culture is exceptional.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

One has to wonder what Super-Size Me would have been like had McDonald's made the movie instead of it being an honest, independent, and factual study. It seems that what happened here was Doshisha was going to carry out a study, but found an easy way to do it freely by "teaming up" with Yoshinoya. Yoshinoya found a way to not only get free advertising, but to skew the results, because I can guarantee these results are not only short term, but not reflective of anything but a cover-up. Sorry, but 'having onions' covered in oil and sauce does NOTHING to counter that oil, or the fact that everything else is meat -- and very cheap quality meat.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

a three-month study on a beef-bowl intensive diet, in cooperation with Kyoto’s Doshisha University.

do you guys really think one with the most prestigious universities in Japan would tamper a research and hide any compromising result just for some free beef bowls?

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

A study of Yoshinoya food financed by Yoshinoya seems about as credible as a study about tobacco-induced health hazards financed by the tobacco industry... I haven't had a Yoshinoya beef-bowl as yet as I prefer to cook gyūdon myself, using good-quality lean beef, onions, leek and multicoloured bell peppers. At least mine looks prettier...

6 ( +7 / -1 )

There's barely any beef in their beef bowls these days anyway! Not to mention the rice & onions comig from farms they own in Fukushima. Let's see what that effect has on the body over a year...

2 ( +6 / -4 )

If the results had been unfavorable, you would never have heard about it. Doesn't affect me either way: almost 3 decades here and I have eaten their beef bowl exactly once. Nothing special.

Been here 3 decades and you are one up on me with Yoshinoya. In my humble opinion beef is not meant to be eaten the way it is served at Yoshinoya.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"A study of Yoshinoya's food, financed by Yoshinoya with a pool of only 24 people, over a period of only 3 months... This sort of feels like a joke." Depends what statistical test they ran. With a test pool of only 24 people though it is HIGHLY suspect any research journal would except the finding of "significance".

"in Statistics "significant" means probably true (not due to chance)."

So in this case they are saying that 24 is a large enough pool of subjects to represent population. 24 is considered to have pretty darn weak statistical "power".

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Why is gyodon healthier than sushi:

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16677/why-most-sushi-is-actually-bad-for-you.html

2 ( +3 / -1 )

For the love of god, English media in Japan, stop calling the dish "beef bowl." It's completely nonsensical to use the literal translation. "A bowl made of beef?", tourists will say. Gyudon is gyudon in English, as is sushi, miso, onigiri, tsunami, karaoke and countless other dishes. They are perfectly logical Japanese gairaigo.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

@Bob

Agree that "beef bowl" sounds a bit odd, but in English we have "cheese plate" (a plate made of cheese?) and "wine glass", among many others.... : )

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Well, what did they expect? Gyudon is food. It is not like trying to live on US fast food chain junkfood for a 3 months.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Love reading these comments as my wife and I just finished feeding our 2 year old son gyudon for dinner. Homemade and not from Yoshinoya, but gyudon nonetheless. Very very good and tasty.

The whole donburi thing is good, whether it is gyudon, katsudon, oyakodon, chirashi-zushi or anything similar.

There are worse things in life and it has been standard fare for decades now!

Also, it is worth nothing the following quote:

Each participant was instructed to eat one pack a day, while otherwise continuing with their preexisting lifestyle. They were requested to make no changes in their exercise or otherwise alter their eating habits.

So, its not like they were eating nothing but Yoshinoya gyudon for 3 months. They were eating one serving a day but otherwise eating whatever else they would normally eat. Include fruits, vegetables, etc. So, in that sense, the results are not so shocking. Now, if it had been nothing but gyudon for 3 months....

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Next study: What does three months of ramen do to your body?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

serving size of a Yoshonoya gyudon pack is a modest 135 grams

So they test people that ate only the topping without the rice ? N'importe quoi.

One has to wonder what Super-Size Me would have been like had McDonald's made the movie instead of it being an honest, independent, and factual study.

You don't wonder about the outcome if the super-size reality show had been slightly honest. They are all doing stunts , not studies. All they want is buzz and they get it.

they are saying that 24 is a large enough pool

And that 3 months would be long enough to see effects of a lifestyle...

1 ( +3 / -2 )

One has to wonder what Super-Size Me would have been like had McDonald's made the movie instead of it being an honest, independent, and factual study.

Sorry, do you think that Super-size Me was in anyway honest? Not sure if you are being ironic or not. Super-sizeMe was totally fraudulent - a number of studies have repeated the "experiment" and none have found any problem with the subjects.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

with this study, you would have to know if the people were chosen randomly or were they chosen because they were living a healthy lifestyle. because the avg. salaryman isn't living a healthy lifestyle and a bowl of gyudon a day might make a difference.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well... I would not recommend to eat only Yoshinoya as your only diet meal (it is tasty though). But sure is healthier than Mcdonnals. Regarding the study.. of course is going to be biased... Yoshinoya pay for the study, negative results won't come up that easily. But it is still a study.

Once you make public the result of such study, others will inquire the result, replicate the study that will confirm or deny partially or entirely the study done by Doshisha.

Surprise to all... that is how science works. Also, hope you guys are sitting because it may shock you, but most studies done around the world are financed by big companies, so the results will tend to benefit the investors.

I know, I know it is a dark secret that nobody will believe

1 ( +1 / -0 )

That's a shocker!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Matsuya's beef bowls are better

1 ( +1 / -0 )

do you guys really think one with the most prestigious universities in Japan would tamper a research and hide any compromising result just for some free beef bowls?

A subject group of just 24, no control group, no consideration of the influence of subjects' usual diet? That's not 'research'.

But at least they didn't pump their product directly into the stomachs of rats before decapitating the rats and inspecting their brains - not to test safety but to make health claims, i.e. that the product is good for people, which is what Kikkoman is known to have done.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I remember when Yoshinoya , announced to the public they will only serve rice from Fukushima to support them, I wonder if they have done a study about those people.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So it didn't improve their health either

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Who cares as long as it is tasty.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I lost weight from living off of not only Sukiya but also McDonald's(jp) eating the same portions I would in America. But of course results may vary.

On a different note, in my entire year and a half in japan i had seemingly tried every gyuudon chain except Yoshinoya lol

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Of course it would not affect weight, body fat percentage, or blood pressure of the participants, nor in their blood-sugar, cholesterol, or triglyceride levels, compared to data taken before starting the daily gyudon diet.

Carbs fatten, not fatty beef. Digested carbs 1st top-up muscle and liver glycogen, stored sugar. The rest is rapidly converted to bodyfat in the cells' mitochondria via the Krebs cycle. Digested fat only slowly converts to useable energy molecules in the liver. Fructose converts directly to body-fat in the liver, HFCS massively accelerates this pathway.

Total cholesterol levels are raised by inactivity, smoking and lack of exercise. LDL, bad cholesterol levels are raised by insufficient antioxidants in the diet, such as found in.. 2 egg yolks a day!

Triglycerides are raised by too many carbs especially sugar and.. alcohol. For blood pressure look at avoiding Commercial salt that's all been heated to over 1200C and which the body doesn't recognizse.

The Mainstream health advice worldwide is based on the US National Institute of Health Guidelines, embodied in Food Groups, Food Pyramids, calorie counting and RDAs. Unfortunately most of this advice is inaccure and dated, some even from a failed 1953 study.. To get cutting edge health advice you need to look even beyond the world's top 2, (US) health sites, whose ill-informed writers often parrot the mainstream. Get accurate, unbiased data on the tthairsolutions dot com site.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites