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Cretan Diet

Cretan DietProducts like the diet is different!

The Cretan diet is not just a list of dishes. It is essentially a cultural object that captures the history, temperament, Cretan nature and lifestyle of the Cretans.
The Cretans took on average one third of their daily energy from olive oil and their main food was the greens and vegetables, cereals (mainly bread), legumes and fruits in smaller quantities cheeses and meat. Foods flavored with local herbs and accompanied with wine and sweets for using natural sweeteners like honey and molasses.
The investigations started the '50s found the excellent level of health and longevity of the Cretans.

Study Rockfeller, ... the principle of detection
The conclusion that the Cretan diet was a special case began to be documented by the study on the economic and social life in Crete done by the American Institute Rockfeller (1948). In this study, inter alia, stated: "Olives and olive oil are an important part of the diet in Crete. Every foreigner has the impression that Cretan dishes sail in oil. This product is used in abundance in cooking but is an important part in salads, soups and vegetables. The amount of oil consumed by the Cretans are undoubtedly much higher than other parts of Greece ... "

The Seven Countries Study
The study began in the '50s by American Ancel Keys. Included men aged 40-59 years, in each country, divided into 16 groups: 2 subgroups came from Greece, 3 from Italy, 5 from the former Yugoslavia, two from Japan, two from Finland, one from the Netherlands and 1 of America.
As regards Greece as a subgroup of the study population was from Crete and the other from Corfu.
Monitoring populations lasted several years. Studied the longevity of the inhabitants, mortality from cardiovascular diseases, cancer mortality and overall mortality.
The results were announced at 10 and 15 years. The Cretans were overwhelmingly lower mortality from all other populations. Both in terms of cardiovascular mortality and total mortality from other causes, such as cancer.
So in 15 years the mortality from cardiovascular disease was 38 people in Crete, 202 in Corfu, 242 in the former Yugoslavia, 462 in Italy and 773 in America.
The cancer mortality for the same period were 317 people in Crete, 338 in Corfu, 394 in the former Yugoslavia, 622 in Italy, 384 in America. The overall mortality was found to be 855 in Crete, Corfu 1.317, 1.712 in the former Yugoslavia, 1,874 in Italy, 1,575 in America.
The lowest mortality from cardiovascular diseases, after the Cretans, presented Japan's population of 136 people compared to 38 in Crete. The Japanese, however, had high mortality from cancer, 623 people, or as much mortality were from the same cause and Italians.

Study Serge Renaud
Wanting to investigate the contribution of the Cretan dietary pattern in the prevention and in the treatment of coronary artery disease, the French physician S. Renaud, a comparable study between patients who had suffered a myocardial infarction. The study took place in Lyon. Specifically divided patients into 2 groups applying different dietary patterns. The patients of one group were fed according to the guidelines of the American Heart Association (low fat diet) and the other according to the standard of the Cretan diet. Of the 28 patients after two years died a total of 8 of the group was fed according to Cretan dietary pattern and respectively 20 of the other group. In other words, the mortality rates in the second group were increased by 70-76%!

 


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