Japanese Prison Meals Treat Lifestyle Diseases

Recently in Yahoo Japan’s Science News, it has been reported that meals provided in Japanese prisons improve conditions of diabetes. Meals provided also promote liver health and are great for dieting.

In the past, many people released from prison left with a better figure than when they entered. Currently a certain famous man appears to be dieting in a prison in Nagano prefecture. Most Japanese may know who I am talking about. During his two year sentence, he should lose about 20kg (44lb). This certain man has mentioned in his blog that his current weight is 91kg (200lb).

“Pearl barley [as a substitute for rice], one of the major prison meal components helps improve diabetes.” The doctor who monitors the health conditions of prisoners in the Fukushima prison analyzed the data of those who have diabetes and confirmed that eating pearl helped to improve their diabetes. It is speculated that this is a result of the high fiber contents of barley.

This doctor provides his report on this issue at conferences with nutritionists and doctors to facilitate prevention and improvement of diabetes. In his analysis, 92 people out of 109 were found to have improved conditions.


We at Diet Academy have recognized the health benefits of meals served in Japanese prisons five years ago. We received recipes of menus served in Japanese prisons from the Tokyo Regional Correction Headquarters and developed our own cookbook to share these benefits to those outside of prison. Our Prison Menu Cookbook is designed with a daily caloric intake of 1400-1500 Kcal for men and 1200 Kcal for women in mind. These figures are based on average basal caloric intake needed (the minimum our caloric intake our bodies need). Those with an active lifestyle need to consume addition calories (approx. 1000 kcal to keep your weight consistent) to balance their activities.


The Japanese version of our menu has over 300 single serving recipes which covers a 90 day meal plan. Currently we have 15 of these recipes translated into English which are available in both metric and volume based measurements. You can download a pdf of our translated recipes for free on our Prison Menu site. For those who understand Japanese, more sample recipes can be found on our Japanese site.