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What Should I Eat?

The conundrum of the French Paradox has been debated for years now: Why do the French have less heart disease despite the fact that their diets are high in fat, they smoke, drink wine daily and don't exercise much. Is it the red wine? Other countries get the same amounts of resveratrol from their wines, but their lives are not necessarily extended. Some estimate that the French people - Mon Dieu! - eat 40% of their diets as saturated fats (Brie, Camembert, Pate). Based on the research done here they should all have an early expiration date stamped on their foreheads and should be going toes up all over the place, yet most live a nice and healthy long life. Some new research out of England tells a different story.

The old Aristotelian logic would have this: Cheese and its saturated fats cause heart attacks. The French people eat the most cheese in the world. Therefore, they should be dropping like flies from heart attacks. Well, this is wrong. So what is the new syllogism? Well, the first premise - that cheese causes heart attacks - evidently is wrong, so there isn't even a syllogism to make a new logical statement out of the non-fact that cheese causes heart attacks, because now, it seems cheese is not a bad guy. In fact, just the opposite.

The researchers found that, startlingly, there are many heart protective properties in cheese. First, there are properties in cheese that are anti-inflammatory, and it was found that cheese reduced an important marker of heart inflammation called C-reactive protein. Secondly, cheese acts like blood pressure medicine, specifically the ACE inhibitors like Lisinopril, so it can lower and normalize blood pressure. Third, cheese, especially the moldy ones like Roquefort, may be particularly helpful in lowering cholesterol levels. Here's how: These cheeses are ripened through fermentation with a fungus such as penicillium roqueforti and they in turn form substances that combat bacteria. Apparently, these fungal bacteria can act as beneficial parasites in the liver and blood vessels and are responsible for increases in cholesterol synthesis. And lastly, cheese also contains nutrients for overall health, like protein, calcium and vitamins A, D, B-6 and B-9.

What are the best of the cheeses? Blue-veined cheeses such as Roquefort, Danish, Blue, Gorgonzola and mature Stilton; White Fungi-fermented cheeses such as Camembert and mature Brie; Bacteria-fermented cheeses such as mature cheddar, Emmental, and (one I had never heard of) Ossau-Iraty, a "ewe's milk cheese with a toasted-wheat aroma and a nutty, grassy-sweet flavor." And I just found a wonderful new cheese at Whole foods called Cambozola, which is a soft ripened, triple cream cheese that tastes like a silky wedding between Brie and Bleu. After all this mouthwatering information, the primary researcher, a Dr. Ivan Metyaev, M.D. publishing in a UK publication called Medical Hypotheses, cautions us to eat no more than 1 ounce of cheese per day, and don't go overboard because of the calories. We want to be both heart healthy AND whippet thin (or at least "non-obese") like most of the French.

The Mediterranean Diet has been in the news a lot lately. The New England Journal of Medicine, that bastion of AMA propaganda and the mouthpiece of Big Pharma, had the integrity and courage - since it is shooting itself in the foot - to publish the results of a long study on the beneficial effects of eating a Mediterranean Diet. Seven thousand overweight, diabetic, smokers in Spain were assigned to eat either a low fat diet or a Mediterranean diet.

Two groups were assigned to the Med Diet and one to the low fat diet. One Med Diet group was given extra olive oil, the other extra nuts. (It turns out that both were good.) The Med Diet participants were also told to avoid junk food. They stopped the study after five years because "the magnitude of the diet's (i.e. Mediterranean) benefits startled experts... the results were so clear it was considered unethical to continue."

Apparently there was minimal change in the low fat participants diet plus they were dying and still taking their meds, while the Med Diet participants were not dying and getting off their meds. This has huge financial implications for Big Pharma who has a vested interest in keeping everyone heart-sick and in high pre-cancerous mode. What if everyone went on the Med Diet? Buh Bye statins! Buh Bye high blood pressure meds. Buh Bye diabetes! And as for Big Pharma? Buh Bye Big Bottom Line!

Simply put, the Med Diet consists of olive oil, used in abundance on salads and cooked vegetables. Then, two servings a day of vegetables, with at least one of those being a salad - all drenched in olive oil. Three servings of fresh fruit. Legumes, three times a week. Fish or seafood three times a week with at least one meal of a fatty fish like salmon. A sauce made with tomatoes, garlic and onions simmered in lots of olive oil at least twice a week. Seven glasses of wine a week if you want. Eat as much chocolate as you want as long as it's more than 50% cacao. Eat as many nuts and eggs as you want. Researchers admit that they don't know which of the Med foods is the most important, rather they think it's the combination of foods that protects against heart disease and other illnesses. And in case you are wondering: People don't gain weight on this way of eating, because the high fat fills you up and you end up eating less.

Another study I want to mention regards calcium: A while back I suggested (because of research that I read) that older women should not take the recommended dose of 1200 mgs. of calcium per day across the board because of the connection of high calcium to heart disease. I still think we should tailor supplemental calcium consumption to what we individually need, but some new research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition failed to establish a relationship between greater calcium intake and increased calcification of the coronary arteries, a condition which could presage heart disease.

The study analyzed data from 588 men and 690 women and questions regarding calcium intake were analyzed for calcium intake from both food and supplements. Then they did computed tomography scans to evaluate the coronary arteries for calcification and found no correlation. So, I guess, at least for right now, the high intake of calcium seems pretty comfortable to me as far as a risk factor for heart disease is concerned. But, let's see what else they come up in future research and still be careful and don't OD on your calcium supplements.

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