I was watching The Italian Americansseries on PBS and the first episode talked about a town in Pennsylvania called Roseto that was/is populated by mostly Italian American families.
I have only watched a few minutes of it, but they mentioned how few people in the town died of heart attacks and that researchers had come and studied them. The researches found that the close bonds and “emotional safety” created by the town led to the lower cardiovascular death rate, even though they ate alot of fatty foods.
In the UK it was a well established meme that people who lived around the North Mediterranean suffered fewer heart attacks because of their diet of vegetables and olive oil. The difference has also been attributed to the consumption of copious quantities of red wine. Well not that simple but you get the idea.
This theory has now been debunked.
I am reminded of this: The French eat a lot more fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans and the British. The Japanese eat less fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans and the British. The Italians drink a lot of red wine, and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans and the British. Koreans drink little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Americans and the British. So it seems you can eat and drink what you like – it’s speaking English that kills you!