Scientists Discover Secret Behind Health Benefits of Mediterranean-Style Diet?

I saw this post today in the Telegraph “Scientists discover secret behind health benefits of Mediterranean-style diet – Telegraph http://goo.gl/OgNE”

…and again I wonder how we can be so simplistic about the nature of health. There are a whole multitude of variables at play when comparing the health of populations. Diet is but one. For example, weather has a profound effect upon mood, which in turn affects our health. Also, good diet is more about what is appropriate for individual circumstances than any absolutes. For example, a good diet for a 6 foot, eighteen year old, 16 stone muscular builder performing heavy work outside in winter must surely be very different from what is a good diet for an 8 stone office clerk whose main physical activity is her whist drive on a Friday evening!

The Chinese have recognised for millennia that diet must be appropriate for the season and, by inference, for local climates. Hotter, dryer weather will dictate a different diet to remain healthy than colder, wetter weather.

So, a “Mediterranean-style” diet may be good for Mediterranean’s but may not so good for us Brits!

Written by Sean