French Paradox

The French paradox refers to the observation that the French suffer a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats. The phenomenon was first noted by Irish physician Samuel Black in 1819. The term French paradox was coined by Dr. Serge Renaud, a scientist from Bordeaux University in France in 1992. When a description of this paradox was aired in the United States on 60 Minutes in 1991 with the proposal that red wine, or alcohol, decreases the incidence of cardiac diseases, the consumption of red wine increased 44% and some wineries began lobbying for the right to label their products "health food".

However, some health researchers question the validity of this paradox. Statistics collected by the WHO from 1990-2000 show that the incidence of heart disease in France may have been underestimated, and may in fact be similar to that of neighboring countries. In 2008 it was found that high doses of resveratrol (a constituent of red wine) mimicked the benefits of caloric restriction (extended lifespan and reduced effects of aging) in a mice study.


According to FAO data, the average French person consumed 108 grams per day of fat from animal sources in 2002 while the average American consumed only 72. The French eat four times as much butter, 60 percent more cheese and nearly three times as much pork. Although the French consume only slightly more total fat (171 g/d vs 157 g/d), they consume much more saturated fat because Americans consume a much larger proportion of fat in the form of vegetable oil, with most of that being soybean oil. However, according to data from the British Heart foundation, in 1999, rates of death from coronary heart disease among males aged 35–74 years was 115 per 100,000 people in the US but only 83 per 100,000 in France.


It has been suggested that France's high red wine consumption is a primary factor in the trend. This theory was expounded in a 60 Minutes broadcast in 1991. The program catalysed a large increase in North American demand for red wines from around the world. It is believed that one of the ingredients in red wine potentially related to this effect is resveratrol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox