For Heart Health, Eat Like A Cretan

The Mediterranean is a large body of water, and the Mediterranean diet, as we know it, includes foods eaten regularly in Spain, France, Italy, and Greece and other countries. So which one of those countries has the most healthful diet? Now, and unsurprisingly from a researcher of Greek heritage, comes the opinion that it’s Greece. The Los Angeles Times reports that Dr. Artemis Simopoulos, president of the nonprofit Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health in Washington, D.C., has drilled deeper than country vs country comparison. Simopoulos says the most healthful diet is one that was enjoyed on the Island of Crete before 1960. Using data from the highly regarded Seven Countries Study, she found that the island of Crete had the lowest heart disease and cancer rates of all seven countries in the study, as well as a lower mortality rate than any other area in the Mediterranean region. Simopoulos believes the key to Cretan health is a more balanced ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats, roughly two to four times as many omega-6s and omega-3s. Like Crete, that ratio is a distant goal for most Americans, who eat 14 to 25 times more omega-6s than omega-3s.  Read more in the Los Angeles Times.