Re: Whole dietary patterns vs. reductionist approach

From: Jan (shantigiri_at_luukku.com)
Date: 07/29/04 

Date: 28 Jul 2004 23:48:29 -0700

"Mirek Fidler" <cxl@volny.cz> wrote in message news:<2mq53hFq2jbdU1@uni-berlin.de>...
> > So, we should rather focus on the research of complete dietary
> > patterns, which is a way to get a very good overall picture about a
> > healthy diet. This is a way to get a solid basis on which you can
> > build on. Fortunately there are already results of this kind of
> > research. It has been found from the Nurses' Health Study and the
> > Health Professionals' Follow-up Study that the prudent dietary pattern
> > is characterized by vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grain, fish or
> > omega-3 oils and olive oil. The western dietary pattern, which
> > shortens life and increases the risk of heart disease, consists of
> > meat, processed meat, refined grains, full fat dairy, butter and
> > potatoes.
>
> I think you have forgot omega-6 PUFAs and fructose/sacharose in the
> western dietary pattern.
>
> They contribute a very large portion of calorie intake. And they are
> perhaps the most dangerous.
>
> Mirek

It seems that you didn't open the second link in my message - they are
there, too. Olive oil, which is mostly monounsaturated, is health
preserving. In contrast margarine (omega-6 oils), desserts and sugar
containing beverages increase the risk of obesity and heart disease,
as you can see from the factor loadings.

But I still stress the importance of whole dietary patterns.

Besides this prudent pattern there is another health enhancing dietary
pattern which hasn't got enough attention, and that is the vegetarian
diet.

-Jan