Gopan Turns Rice into Bread

Well yes and no. There are very slight differences in some cases. A study released in some of the medical journals in the past year pointed to a slight difference in the pH of the Japanese stomach that allows a certain strain of bacteria to grow that isn’t able to in many westerners stomachs. Research seems to indicate the bacteria is passed from the mother, and is still present in nisei, starting to disappear in sansei.

As for the effects of this culture of bacteria? The help break down seaweed, basically allowing a much more efficient breakdown of seaweeds, and thereby better absorption rates for the nutrients there in. (Some have even claimed this means westerners don’t get any dietary benefits from diets involving seaweed, however if true that would be blow to anyone trying vegetarianism.)

The study seems to indicate that it’s either an evolutionary trait that turns off when no longer needed, or a response to a stimulus during developmental stages. I don’t know if they are doing this but I think the next “good” step would be to look at any third gen westerner living in Japan and to see if their pH levels have adjusted to allow this culture to thrive and if it has done so.

At the end of the day I think it’s just easy to be said how amazing it is the ways in which the body can adapt to different environments, but there’s a cautionary warning in there that some of the adaptations might take a generation or two.

The GoPan also uses vital wheat gluten in the list of required ingredients, as listed on the website. So while it’s awesome, it’s not gluten-free. People with wheat allergies would not be able to find use of this machine.

It costs about 50000 yen for the Gopan.