An International Food Guide

Another chain email arrived. Here it is

For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Brits and Americans.

2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Brits and Americans.

3. The Chinese drink very little red wine
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Brits and Americans.
4 The Italians drink a lot of red wine
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Brits and Americans.

5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats
And suffer fewer heart attacks than Brits and Americans.

CONCLUSION

Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you..

I immediately noticed that there may be a better link between our car culture and heart attacks than there is with language. So I googled "International cardiovascular disease statistics". Listed below are just the countries mentioned in the chain email. But I added Russia as it has far and away the highest rate of coronary deaths of any country listed. And I added Canada because I live there.

Russia with 1555 (deaths per 100,000)
Chinese rural with 413
Chinese urban with 389
England/Wales with 301
USA with 289 and
Germans 270
Mexico 235
Italy 218
Canada 212
Japan 170

Then I noticed all the top countries in order were Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, China. I guess you could also make the argument that eating in a Communist restaurant leads to heart attack.

But it is not from lack of trying that America loses out to Communists in heart attacks. Americans don't like to come second.

I took the pictures from a patriotic restaurant that goes by the name "The Heart Attack Grill"