What is the "French paradox"?
Well the French paradox may not be so much of a paradox. There is the concept that in other countries, France among them, heart disease may be lower even though the diet may be higher in the amount of fat that's eaten. But in fact, if we look at diets in many other places, what we find is that saturated fat may actually be quite low even though the total amount of fat in the diet is higher. So more of the fat may come from unsaturated fats, mono-unsaturated fats like olive oil, poly-unsaturated fats, rather than the saturated fats that we find in animal and dairy products here. In addition, portion control and, in terms of quantity, is also a major factor in those diets. So that a croissant in France is about half the size of a croissant at any bakery in the United States. In addition, in most other parts of the world, people get more exercise than they do in the United States. Now, it's not that the rest of the world doesn't have problems with obesity and overweight, as well. And in fact, the rest of the world is catching up to the United States in the degree to which obesity and overweight affect their populations and other nation's governments and health organizations have become concerned about that just as we are in this country.
