How Bacteria Solved The French Paradox http://smsmarketingdubai-me.com/

1. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
How Bacteria Solved The French Paradox
by Dr Steven Lin | Sep 25, 2015 | Health | 0 comments
Search …      
a

2. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
In the 1980’s, whilst the Western world was rolling out the low-fat craze, it was noticed that the French
were doing everything that doctors were telling us not to do. Instead of pining over low-fat high sugar
food they kept eating their traditional high fat cheeses – and drank lots of wine while they were at it.

3. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
Despite low levels of exercise and high rates of smoking, they had half the rate of heart disease and
live 2.5 years longer. For years researchers were stunned with the paradoxical nature of French health
outcomes when they directly contradicted the supposed ‘known’ risk factors for coronary heart
disease.
It was later hypothesised that their secret to longevity was due to higher levels of red wine
consumption in France – which was eight times that of the average Americans at the time. The theory
suggested that wine negated the fact their diet high in saturated fat, with the French estimated to eat
24 kg a year per person that is nearly double that of the average American and Brit (13kg).
Whilst wine is known for its heart-protective components such as resveratrol, it would take some 20
years for us to realise that it was the little creepy crawlies in both wine and cheese that made it so
beneficial for their health.
A message in microbes
Up until 10 years ago the presence of bacteria needed to be measured by cultivating the microbes on
a petri-dish. The problem is that for 99% of bugs, this isn’t possible and hence why we’ve long thought
that unless we could see them, microbes didn’t exist.
Traditional cultures are known to have higher intake of fermented foods rich in bacteria and the
French diet is an excellent example of this. Winemaking is a careful process of fostering bacterial
fermentation reaction by the family of lactic acid bacteria. Malolactic fermentation can aid in making a
wine “microbiologically stable” in that the lactic acid bacteria consume many of the leftover nutrients
that other spoilage microbes could use to develop wine faults. It’s thought that it creates a rounder,
fuller mouthfeel, which may show that tastebuds evolved to be drawn to the presence of microbes.

4. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
French Cheese: A Culture Of Bacteria
The French language has 27 different words describing the different tastes of cheese. It doesn’t take
long to see why with their rich cheese culture where its estimated that across the country they have a
thousand different varieties with many of the traditional cheese making practices protected by law.
French cheese differs from that of other Western countries in that the majority is consumed as real
cheese purchased from the shop rather than added to processed foods. Of the top 10 best sellers, at
least four cheeses are unpasteurised, as its common belief that this gives them more taste and special
properties.
The most well known and respected cheese making processes are notably less sterile as its known
that increased diversity of microbes including moulds add to the tastes and textures compared to
industrial preparations of cheese. They contain a staggering variety of microbes including bacteria,
yeasts and fungi with hundreds of species most of which are unknown.
Some types of cheese are known to arrive with chubby mites crawling and gorging on the cheese
they’re living within. Interestingly cheese-related food poisoning is very rate. The complex tradition
around making cheese is known to involve cheese regularly rubbed with a milky rag from a vat on the
floor of a cellar to give it a good crust due to the presence of bacteria and fungi. This milky rag is
known to be dipped in other substances like horse urine to give it distinctive flavours, a sensory
experience!
Why traditional food is always better
The French paradox gives an excellent example of how traditional food preparations are carefully
evolved to create the healthy microbial populations in the mouth and gut. In the case of cheese and

5. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
evolved to create the healthy microbial populations in the mouth and gut. In the case of cheese and
wine, we see living microbes themselves that are fostered through fermented food. However since the
early 1900’s we’ve been treating the bacteria in dairy by boiling them to death by pasteurisation
processes.
For countries like Australia and the US strictly ban these types of procedures because it’s seen as risk
for health. They effectively push the more industrial cheese products yet they lack any of the live
cultures that are what made them so healthy in the first place.
The French provide a compelling example of the deep relationship between our microbiome, food, and
health. Most societies consumed high levels of fermented foods and the French cheese and wine
culture is a modern day example of why we need healthy bacteria as a part of a balanced diet.
Submit a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Related Posts :

6. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
Should I Be Taking
Probiotic Supplements?
How Fibre Feeds Your
Microbiome
Why Stress Is Crucial For
Health
Popular Articles
How Bacteria Solved The French Paradox
Is Alzheimer’s Disease Type 3 Diabetes?
Should I Be Taking Probiotic Supplements?
How Fibre Feeds Your Microbiome
Why Stress Is Crucial For Health

7. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
Discover why every disease begins
in the mouth and how your diet
controls your health destiny
E-Books
Read More

8. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

9. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
Download Your FREE
PDF Today
Healthy Meal Ideas
Subscribe
Enter Your Email Below

10. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

11. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
SUPPORT
PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS AND CONDITIONS

12. pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API
ABOUT
LEARN
ABOUT DR STEVEN LIN
MEDIA
CONTACT
ARTICLES
E-BOOKS
VIDEO
© 2015 All Rights Reserved
      
XLike what you’re reading? Get FREE updates sent to your inbox.
Enter Name Enter Email Subscribe