Despite their love of cheese, sweet bakes and foods rich in saturated fat, the French are healthier than the British. It’s not the red wine that’s doing it, says Sue Quinn – so what’s their secret?
The French are famously able to have their gateaux and eat it, too – to enjoy an apparently indulgent diet without damaging their health. In 1980, scientists even coined an expression for this remarkable contradiction: the French paradox. It referred to the fact that in the UK and US, where saturated fat consumption was roughly the same as France, the death rate from heart disease was higher. Researchers attributed this to the French love of red wine, a source of heart-protective plant compounds.
Eventually, the wine theory was discounted. Many more factors are involved in heart disease than just saturated fat, scientists reasoned, and glasses of vin rouge would not make it better. But it is true that the French score higher on key health markers.
Obesity levels in France, although rising, are still much lower than in the UK. The NHS estimates that almost 26% of UK adults are obese, while the figure for France is 17%, according to a 2020 study. What’s more, research by Imperial College London in 2019 found the rate of heart disease deaths in the UK was more than double that of France. So what are the French doing right?
A BALANCING ACT
Dr Jean-Michel Cohen, one of France’s leading nutritionists and health commentators, says obesity is an escalating problem in France due to a growing appetite for fast food and ultra-processed foods among young people. Despite that, he adds, the traditional approach to eating, still widely practised, is keeping the French slimmer and healthier than the British for the time being.
“We eat a balanced diet of dairy – like yogurt and cheese – vegetables, fruit and grains,” Dr Cohen explains. “Apart from in the north, where they eat more processed meat and dairy, the French essentially eat a Mediterranean diet.”
A meal in France, as in many Mediterranean countries, often begins with vegetables, Dr Cohen says, either cooked or in a salad. This means that even if rich sauces, cheese or red meat follow, the meal has started nutritiously. France’s latest national dietary survey bears this out. On average, the French consume 400g of fruit and vegetables per day (excluding juice), while in the UK, the figure is 300g, according to the NHS.
TAKING THEIR TIME
The French passion for taking time to enjoy food – also a feature of the Mediterranean diet – is another key difference to the British approach. “For the French, eating
