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Human Diet Series: What Do Traditional Peoples Really Eat? Thailand
We hear a great deal these days about the presumed health benefits of Asian diets. China and Japan are presented as exemplars of "low-fat, high fiber, largely vegetarian" Oriental regimes. The foods of Thailand are often ignored in such discussions. The delicious, spicy cuisine of Siam is rich in saturated fat from coconut oil and lard, relatively low in fiber and features many and varied animal foods. Yet a comparison of autopsy reports on a group from Bangkok with a group from the United States found that coronary occlusion or myocardial infarction was eight times more frequent in the United States, diabetes was ten times more frequent and high blood pressure about four times more frequent. Even more intriguing is the fact that Thailand has the lowest rates of cancer, for both men and women, of all the 50 countries studied by the World Health Organization. Here is yet another paradox - Le Paradoxe Thailandais - that the "experts" would rather ignore than explain.