We have now made it easier for you to navigate through our past newsletters to find a particular article of interest. The newsletters are listed by month with the topics covered listed beneath them. They reflect the traditional food patterns of the 1960's in Greece and Japan which have been subsequently linked with longevity and low rates of heart disease and cancer. The evidence behind these pyramids originated from the 7 countries study undertaken by Professor Ancel Keys in the 1960's. The Lyon Diet Heart Study undertaken in the 1980's and 90's also supports these findings.
Red meat is recommended a few times per month and fish weekly.
Oils are no longer at the top of the pyramid because they are not severely restricted. Also, legumes and nuts are separated from vegetables and fruits and consumption is encouraged daily. This suggests that disparate food patterns can result in comparable health i.e. there is more than one ideal diet that can lead to good health. One shortfall of the traditional Cretan and Japanese diets of the 1960's was the high content of salt due to high intakes of olives, bread, salted fish, pickles etc. Studies have found a relationship between high salt intakes in these countries and the high rates of stroke and stomach cancer.