CUT LIFE EXPECTANCY WITH FRENCH FRIES?

Potatoes are one of the most consumed foods in our industrialized world. With French fries as a treat for many. Support for better health? Just read on to learn more about.

THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND

Mary Johnson from Santa Monica, CA, claims:
If I don’t have my French fries at least every second day, I am all but happy for the rest of the week. I am sure, you give me right, Doc?
 
Dr. Fritz:
 
In fact, while potatoes can well be part of a healthy diet, they are at least a staple of basic U.S. nutrition, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Especially in processed form (French fries and chips), they account for more than 2 thirds of potato consumption in this country.
 
Only 5 weeks ago, you learned from my blog Blueprint for Healthy Diet?  (http://www.naturalonlinedoctor.com/blog/blueprint-for-healthy-diet) that Mediterranean diet may be one of the healthiest diets on this globe, if not the best at all for healthy and long life. With traditional French cuisine as a center part.
 

HISTORIC BACKGROUND

Yet, although misleading linguistically, French Fries historically are not part of the traditional French cuisine.
 
According to historic research, it was Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and writer of the Declaration of Independence, who hat ‘potatoes served in the French manner’ at a White House dinner in 1802 (without any historically known predecessor in France). And the term ‘French fried potatoes’ has been printed first time in English half a century later in the book ‘Cookery for Maids of All Work’ by E. Warren.
 
Other historians claim that fries are originating in Belgium. A country where half of the population speaks French but which is not at all part of the Southern Euroopean Mediterranean. Rather, it is neighboring the Netherlands in Center Europe which also explains that the other half of the Belgian population speaks Dutch.   
 

IMPACT ON HEALTH & LONGEVITY

After clarifying the historic background of French fries, we should learn about the – yes, dramatic - impact of this food on our health.
 
In fact, according to Brescia University Medical school and CEINGE Biotecnologie Avanzate, both located in Italy, based on research of 4,400  adults (age 45-79) in the United States for a period of 8 years, consumption of fried potatoes 2-3 times per week may raise the risk of premature death – by twofold. With eating more than 3 portions of French fries, the mortality risk may even increase.