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Cretan Diet Study
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A comparative study among several developed countries, which began in 1960 on behalf of seven countries, has a group of about 700 Cretan men from the countryside under medical observation, whose state of health is regularly being checked. So far, this group has had the lowest percentage of deaths caused by heart attacks and different kinds of cancer.
This study has also shown the Cretan population to be the longest living one; when, in 1991, thirty one years after the beginning of the study, the Social Health Sector of the University of Crete undertook the medical check-up of the group, about 50% were found to be still alive as opposed to the rest of the six participating countries where there wasn't a single survivor (even in the rest of Greece)!
Until recently the diet was simple and wholesome: olive oil, which counted for the 1/3 of the individual's daily need in energy, but mainly cereals, principally bread, pulses, vegetables and fruit and, to a lesser degree, cheese, milk, eggs, fish and a little red wine with every meal.
Taking into account the conditions of modern life, we would recommend a return to the traditional Cretan eating habits.
Check that you understand what these words mean in this document Wholesome: likely to improve your life either physically, morally or emotionally. Pulse: a seed such as a bean or pea which is cooked and eaten.