3 ms·

No mention of the French paradox: > the paradoxical epidemiological observation that French people have a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease (C

by krona 2y ago

No mention of the French paradox: > the paradoxical epidemiological observation that French people have a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD), while having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats,[1] in apparent contradiction to the widely held belief that the high consumption of such fats is a risk factor for CHD. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_paradox

chasebank 2y ago
This is true for salt too. "Intersalt, a large study published in 1988, compared sodium intake with blood pressure in subjects from 52 international research centers and found no relationship between sodium intake and the prevalence of hypertension. In fact, the population that ate the most salt, about 14 grams a day, had a lower median blood pressure than the population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams a day. In 2004 the Cochrane Collaboration, an international, independent, not-for-profit health care research organization funded in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published a review of 11 salt-reduction trials. Over the long-term, low-salt diets, compared to normal diets, decreased systolic blood pressure (the top number in the blood pressure ratio) in healthy people by 1.1 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by 0.6 mmHg. That is like going from 120/80 to 119/79." [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-t...
- alfiopuglisi 2y ago
  7.2 grams a day is still a lot. Low-sodium diets aim for less than 3 grams a day, and it is not that difficult to go even lower. Whether a near-zero sodium intake is good or not, it's another can of worms, but a study looking at a huge-salt diet vs. a high-salt diet does not look very useful.
  - tonymet 2y ago
    Before refrigeration sodium consumption was 10x
paulpauper 2y ago
I think it's a combination of low-stress lifestyle and demographics. Or differences of reporting. I am skeptical that there is a genotypical protection to heart disease unique to the French.
- fwip 2y ago
  The claim is not that French people are resistant to heart disease. It is a datapoint that reality may not fit the "fat -> heart disease" model.
  - KempyKolibri 2y ago
    Yet within the French population, higher consumption of SFA is associated with higher CVD. So the French paradox doesn’t really seem to be any such thing.
tonymet 2y ago
“The French paradox” is preposterous. Rather than re-assessing the “low fat” model, the approach was to call French nutrition a “paradox”. Resolving the paradox itself should have been done before presenting the low fat model as a fact.

by krona 2y ago

chasebank 2y ago

This is true for salt too. "Intersalt, a large study published in 1988, compared sodium intake with blood pressure in subjects from 52 international research centers and found no relationship between sodium intake and the prevalence of hypertension. In fact, the population that ate the most salt, about 14 grams a day, had a lower median blood pressure than the population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams a day. In 2004 the Cochrane Collaboration, an international, independent, not-for-profit health care research organization funded in part by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, published a review of 11 salt-reduction trials. Over the long-term, low-salt diets, compared to normal diets, decreased systolic blood pressure (the top number in the blood pressure ratio) in healthy people by 1.1 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by 0.6 mmHg. That is like going from 120/80 to 119/79." [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-the-war-on-salt/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-end-t...

alfiopuglisi 2y ago
7.2 grams a day is still a lot. Low-sodium diets aim for less than 3 grams a day, and it is not that difficult to go even lower. Whether a near-zero sodium intake is good or not, it's another can of worms, but a study looking at a huge-salt diet vs. a high-salt diet does not look very useful.
- tonymet 2y ago
  Before refrigeration sodium consumption was 10x

paulpauper 2y ago

I think it's a combination of low-stress lifestyle and demographics. Or differences of reporting. I am skeptical that there is a genotypical protection to heart disease unique to the French.

fwip 2y ago
The claim is not that French people are resistant to heart disease. It is a datapoint that reality may not fit the "fat -> heart disease" model.
- KempyKolibri 2y ago
  Yet within the French population, higher consumption of SFA is associated with higher CVD. So the French paradox doesn’t really seem to be any such thing.

tonymet 2y ago

“The French paradox” is preposterous. Rather than re-assessing the “low fat” model, the approach was to call French nutrition a “paradox”. Resolving the paradox itself should have been done before presenting the low fat model as a fact.