The
French Paradox is the observation that
French people suffer a relatively low incidence of
coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in
saturated fats.
[1] The term
French Paradox was coined by Serge Renaud, a scientist from
Bordeaux University in France.
[2]
When a description of this paradox was aired in the United States on
60 Minutes in 1991 with the speculation that red wine decreases the incidence of cardiac diseases, the consumption of
red wine increased 44% and some wineries began lobbying for the right to label their products "
health food."
[3]
The authors of a review of dietary studies concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish a causal link between consumption of saturated fats and coronary heart disease risk,
[4] and statistics collected by the
WHO from 1990–2000 show that the incidence of heart disease in France may have been underestimated, and may in fact be similar to that of neighboring countries.
[3]