Seed oil folks often bring up the French paradox, the (controversial) claim that French people are/were thin and have low cardiovascular disease despite eating lots of saturated-fat-rich croissants or whatever.
As a French person hearing about this for the first time, that claim indeed seems pretty odd.
If I was asked to list the lifestyle differences between France and the US with the most impact on public health, I would think of lower car dependency, higher access to farmer’s markets, stricter regulations on industrial food processing (especially sugar content in sodas), smaller portions served in restaurants, pharmacies not doubling as junk food shops, the absence of food deserts, public health messaging (eg every junk food ad having a “please don’t eat this, kids” type disclaimer) etc… way before I thought of the two croissants a week I eat.
Viennoiseries are an occasional food for most people, not a staple. Now if you wanted to examine a french-specific high-carb staple, baguettes are a pretty good option: almost all middle-class households buy one a day at least.
There is also a similar, lesser known “Israeli Paradox”, where we consume less saturated fat and more unsaturated, and have worse cardiovascular stats.
As a French person hearing about this for the first time, that claim indeed seems pretty odd.
If I was asked to list the lifestyle differences between France and the US with the most impact on public health, I would think of lower car dependency, higher access to farmer’s markets, stricter regulations on industrial food processing (especially sugar content in sodas), smaller portions served in restaurants, pharmacies not doubling as junk food shops, the absence of food deserts, public health messaging (eg every junk food ad having a “please don’t eat this, kids” type disclaimer) etc… way before I thought of the two croissants a week I eat.
Viennoiseries are an occasional food for most people, not a staple. Now if you wanted to examine a french-specific high-carb staple, baguettes are a pretty good option: almost all middle-class households buy one a day at least.
There is also a similar, lesser known “Israeli Paradox”, where we consume less saturated fat and more unsaturated, and have worse cardiovascular stats.
French are also apparently slightly less obese than their neighbours, the difference is not only with the US.
They seem to have similar average BMI and the Swiss seem to have an even lower obesity rate.
Belgium seems lower obesity rates than France but slightly higher average BMI.
Andorra has lower obesity rates but a significantly higher average BMI.
The UK, Spain and Germany are doing worse than France.
A bit of chatting with Gemini suggests what Belgium, France and the Swiss share is a strong market culture so food is more fresh.
Or maybe speaking french automatically makes you healthier. I’m gonna choose to believe it’s that one.
And they all eat a lot of butter and dairy products.
That really depends of which part of France you are talking about. Provence uses mostly olive oil. In the South West they often use duck fat.