It could also mean that the Japanese have a different genetic make-up that allows them to consume that much salt without issue whereas other people cannot. Aren't many Asians lactose intolerant while most Indo-Europeans are not?

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Being an American is bad for you?

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Somehow I doubt the genetic differences between Asians and Indo-Europeans are that drastic, rabidgopher04. For example, it's been shown that within two generations of immigration to the United States, the average height of people of Asian descent closely approximates that of the rest of the population.

I personally think genetics is implicated far more often than warranted as an etiological driver behind variations in human populations, particularly when it comes to disease prevalence, leading to a tendency to overlook the effects of lifestyle and even environment.

In other words, while there certainly are diseases and conditions that have an underlying genetic component, I think the fact that, for example, "cancer tends to run in families" has more to do with the fact that families tend to share similar lifestyles and living conditions than any genetic variants they happen to pass on.

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Genetics are an excuse for bad habits/behavior. The American diet is made for farmers, and is actually quite good for farmers. Now that the vast majority of Americans aren't farmers any more, the American diet is a bad thing for most Americans.

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