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Dec.
18, 2004
They say feasting on fish,
garlic, almonds, fruits and vegetables, dark chocolate, all
polished off with a glass of wine could
substantially reduce the risk of problems such as heart attack
when compared with the general population.
Oscar Franco, a
public health scientist at the University Medical Centre in
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and his colleagues suggest the "Polymeal" as
a natural alternative to the "Polypill". This wonder pill -
a cocktail of six existing drugs - was proposed in June 2003
as a preventive pill which might slash the risk of heart attack
or stroke in people over 55 years old by as much as 80%. The
proposal was underpinned by an analysis of over 750 trials
of the existing drugs.
"The point we are trying to make is
that it is not only through pills that you can prevent disease," says
Franco. "The Polymeal is a natural alternative." He says that
by eating the prescribed food within a balanced diet, along
with exercise and not smoking, a future of "pills and medicalisation" could
be avoided.
Tongue in cheek
But Nicholas Wald, at the Wolfson
Institute of Preventive Medicine, University of London, UK,
who led the work on the Polypill concept, is less than impressed.
He told New Scientist that the "tongue in cheek" paper published
in Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal is "designed
to amuse and should be taken in that vein".
He does however
say that "buried in it are some things that are sensible",
such as fruit and vegetable consumption. Wald adds the paper
may help focus attention on eating a healthy diet, which helps
improve cardiovascular health.
Franco and colleagues devised
the "Polymeal" by searching the medical literature for ingredients.
They then used mathematical models to analyse the effects that
regularly eating certain foods could have on the cardiovascular
health of a population.
The team based their models on a long-running
heart health study, called the Framingham study, which has
followed a population in Massachusetts, US, for 46 years.
The
results suggested that the Polymeal could reduce cardiovascular
events like heart attack by 76%. On average, men eating the
meal could boost their total life expectancy by 6.6 years,
and women by 4.8 years, the study estimates.
Body odour
But
Wald points out that the scientific evidence to back some of
the Polymeal ingredients such as dark chocolate or garlic,
is far from established. for example, the recommendation that
dark chocolate enjoyed daily can cut blood pressure stems from
a research letter on work conducted in just 13 elderly patients.
And some crucial dietary factors for cardiovascular health,
such as eating less saturated fats and salt are also not mentioned
in the paper, notes Wald.
But Franco told New Scientist that
the Polymeal would be likely to have fewer adverse reactions
than taking the Polypill. However, bad breath and body odour
could pose a problem with garlic, he jokes, unless everyone
takes part.
"We do not recommend taking the Polymeal before
a romantic rendezvous, unless the partner also complies with
the Polymeal," the team writes.
Journal reference: British
Medical Journal (vol 329, p 1447)
New Scientist magazine
© Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
The
Dutch Polymeal
1) Eat fish four times a week;
2) Drink 4-5
oz. of wine a day;
3) Eat 100g (3-4 oz.)
of dark chocolate a day;
4) Eat 400g (14 oz.) of fruits and
vegetables a day;
5) Eat 2.7g (a pinch) of garlic a day;
6) Eat 68g (2-3 oz.) of almonds a day.
Polymeal author, Dr.
Oscar
H. Franco, a public health expert at the Erasmus University
Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, hopes that
his research encourages people to "focus more on eating a healthy
diet as a good means to reduce their heart disease."
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