Thu, 23 Sep 2004 02:17:13 +0300 in article
Matti Narkia
wrote:

22 Sep 2004 16:01:54 -0700 in article
m
(Tony Lew) wrote:

Little dairy? Really? Then what do the mediterraneans do with all
the cheese they make? Export it? Feed it to the dogs?

The best example of Mediterranean diet is the traditional Cretan diet, which
contains relatively low amount of dairy products. Only fermented dairy
products, feta cheese and yoghurt made of goat or sheep milk are used. And
yes, Mediterranean countries do export cheese.

There is an interesting comment about cheese in thearticle

Serge Renaud: from French paradox to Cretan miracle.
Lancet 2000; 355: 48 - 52.
URL:http://www.thelancet.com/journal/vol355/iss9197/full/llan.355.9197.news.2419.1

"Renaud's answer is simple. The participants in the Lyon
study ate like Cretans: no butter, cream, or milk; lots of
vegetables, fruit, bread, and cereals; and little meat. For
the study, Renaud designed a margarine similar in
composition to olive oil, but enriched in alpha-linolenic
acid. Patients ate cheese ("a 9000 year old invention not
linked to coronary disease") and, of course, drank wine.
Other linolenic acid-rich ingredients of the Cretan diet--
walnuts, snails, and purslane--were replaced by his
margarine. Although linolenic acid's protective effects have
been corroborated in other studies, Ducimetière warns that
"the extraordinary [Lyon] results await confirmation"."

See also

de Lorgeril M, Renaud S, Mamelle N, Salen P, Martin JL, Monjaud I,
Guidollet J, Touboul P, Delaye J.
Mediterranean alpha-linolenic acid-rich diet in secondary prevention of
coronary heart disease.
Lancet. 1994 Jun 11;343(8911):1454-9. Erratum in: Lancet 1995 Mar
18;345(8951):738.
PMID: 7911176 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=791117 6&dopt=Abstract

de Lorgeril M, Salen P, Martin J-L, Monjaud I, Delaye J, Mamelle N:
Mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors and the rate of
cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction. Final report of
the Lyon Diet Heart Study.
Circulation 1999, February 16, 99:779-785
URL:http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/99/6/779

Leaf A.
Dietary prevention of coronary heart disease: the Lyon Diet Heart Study.
Circulation. 1999 Feb 16;99(6):733-5.
URL:http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/99/6/733

--
Matti Narkia