So, the game's afoot! Why do you think are the French considered healthier and living longer life expectancies than we are? This is an extremely broad question, as you can tell, but the story is still under discussion by cardiologists, epidemiologists, public health officials, and physiologists. Does this paradox open the door to considerations that cholesterol, smoking, and other risk factors are not always the cause of heart attacks, obesity, and strokes? Should Americans be able to take time to eat their meals?
Saturday, September 8, 2012
The French Paradox: Saying Oui Oui to Longevity
The French may not be a considerable model for health and fitness, with their high-fat diet, alcoholism, and smoking, but somehow are able to outlive American citizens. The average Frenchman, who consumes 1.5 times the amount of saturated fat as the American, somehow has the lowest incidences of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes. Some have attributed the French Paradox to the French culture (of wine, bicycling, berets, and baguettes) while others attribute it to dining etiquette of slower rates of food consumption (savoring vs. wolfing), lack of "grazing", and the grading of food by quality rather than quantity. The following video describes the French Paradox and some of the variables:
So, the game's afoot! Why do you think are the French considered healthier and living longer life expectancies than we are? This is an extremely broad question, as you can tell, but the story is still under discussion by cardiologists, epidemiologists, public health officials, and physiologists. Does this paradox open the door to considerations that cholesterol, smoking, and other risk factors are not always the cause of heart attacks, obesity, and strokes? Should Americans be able to take time to eat their meals?
So, the game's afoot! Why do you think are the French considered healthier and living longer life expectancies than we are? This is an extremely broad question, as you can tell, but the story is still under discussion by cardiologists, epidemiologists, public health officials, and physiologists. Does this paradox open the door to considerations that cholesterol, smoking, and other risk factors are not always the cause of heart attacks, obesity, and strokes? Should Americans be able to take time to eat their meals?
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This was such an interesting topic to learn about. I've been to Paris twice and I've noticed both times that the people are pretty slim. There are so many reasons that the French Paradox could exist. There are many outdoor markets with fresh produce, citizens choose to bike or walk to work, the buildings have SO many stairs, and people take time to enjoy meals and life in general. To attribute the entire French paradox to just one of these reasons would be a tall order. It definitely opens up the possibility that heart attacks, obesity and strokes may have a cultural cause as well. It may just be a crazy coincidence? Next time I'n in France I'll have to live as the Parisians do! Who knows? Maybe my risk will be lowered! If not, I'll be pleasantly plump and in France, I can always walk it off at the 12 miles of walkways at the Louvre.
ReplyDeleteOne argument, according to geographers, associates the idea of urban sprawl with the increased incidence of obesity and hypertension. Urban sprawl is essentially the spread of low-density residential and commercial areas. The associated between obesity, hypertension, and urban sprawl can arguably well supported by the French paradox. However, such associations are rather difficult because of other social factors involved in housing and urban development.
DeleteLike you said, we can even associate it with nations that are even more diet-conscious in comparison to French, particularly Japan. Japan is particularly notorious for longer lifespans and healthier lifestyles, subsisting on fish, macrobiotic diets, and smaller portions. They don't exercise as much, but have physical activity incorporated in some form. However, with the rise of overweight individuals in Japan (due to the increased presence of fast food), businesses and government have been making considerable efforts towards workplace health management and exercise.
This paradox has always fascinated me. It was not until I moved to the United States that I heard the word 'diet' so much, and that I got so many questions like "how can you eat so much and not get fat?". Like the video says, food is a big part of culture, and culture is hard to ignore. I think one of the big things in our culture is the go-go-go of our daily lives. The french seem to take their time to eat, probably causing them to eat less. They also seem to walk a lot, maybe because they are not always in a hurry. This go-go-go momentum could be adding some negative stress to our body, putting the body's sympathetic nervous system on high and decreasing the body's signaling for accurate and complete digestion of food. How many of you are constantly thinking of what you need to do the rest of the day? How many sit to eat lunch while studying for classes? We may not feel stressed (in fact we may feel smart because we are multi-tasking!)but if what you are studying is not making sense you start to get nervous, and that stress is sensed by your body, increasing sympathetic neural output, which slows down digestion. I am not sure how scientifically accurate this is, so please comment on it, but I think stress also plays a large role in obesity.
ReplyDeleteSome sources: http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/basics/gi_nervous.html
The French culture is very different from our own, which I think has a lot to do with the French paradox. I have been to France. I noticed that the French are very family orientated; they go home to eat with their family at lunch, most work a normal schedule (9-5) and spend hours at night enjoying their meals with family and friends. I feel that Americans are rushed and stressed. I feel we work a lot and when we have time to eat it is usually grabbing a bite from a fast food restaurant. Also, in France I noticed that they walk everywhere; to the outdoor markets, their job, their friends house. The french might eat rich food but I think the biking and walking help make up for it.
ReplyDeleteI think wine is an important item in the French diet that has a positive effect on the French paradox. When I was in France, most meals were accompanied with wine. Wine has been shown to be good for your heart plus some think it might have a positive effect on maintaining a healthy body weight. A study in the archives of internal medicine showed that normal weight women who drank wine moderately were less lightly to become obese than normal weight women who did not.
Source:
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=415737
Ahh, I love the French Paradox! What better way for me to justify my glasses of red wine, and fantastically fat dinners! It is an interesting concept though, one that I think comes down to a number of things, all of which I think were mentioned:
ReplyDelete1). Red wine! The French sure drink a lot of red wine and why not! They have some of the best vineyards in the world. The flavanoids and resveratrols in red wine have been shown in studies to reduce the risk of heart disease.
2). Diet. Which is strange, when you consider the amount of butter, lard, fat, liver, etc that they consume (and not to forgot baguette). I think the confusion stems from something called the lipid hypothesis, that theory that fats make you fat. More and more, this is looking to be completely false, but objects like the food pyramid which place carbs at the bottom and meats in the "to be consumed moderately" category are antiquated and, well, wrong. It turns out that cholesterols and fats are important in feelings of fullness as well as the production of hormones (all of them, including those involved in satiety).
Additionally, and as an enthusiast of French food, the French utilize vegetables in a way that makes them taste good. Who would have though that we didn't want to eat our vegetables because nobody enjoys raw broccoli?
3). Lifestyle. This has been touched on, the importance of family and the stress-free nature of the French. They sit down to have meals, they eat high quality local foods, and avoid processed products.
So let's all try to be a little more French! Please see this article, which discusses a little bit the theories you have all mentioned!
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/clc.4960200504/pdf