Mail Call

Sarasota, Florida

I was delighted to read Newsweek's recent article on "The Nature of Nutrients" and the vital role that a diverse diet can play in promoting human health and well-being. This is even more important for poor people in the developing world, where diets, especially of the urban poor, are becoming simpler. People are abandoning locally important foods such as legumes and cereals in favor of refined carbohydrates like white bread, rice and sugar, which are now cheaper than ever. This has led to an increase in heart disease, diabetes and cancer, illnesses that are normally associated with affluence. Adding diversity to the diet would help mitigate these effects. Research has shown that most essential nutrient deficiencies can be eliminated by small increases in the diversity of the diet. Buckwheat and finger millet, for example, reduce the risk of heart disease. The International Plant Genetic Resources Institute has launched an initiative that emphasizes the important links between agricultural biodiversity and nutrition and health, with particular emphasis on the value of neglected and underused species. The world needs to recognize the importance of biodiversity in providing us with diverse foods that can improve the health, nutrition and food security of people in the developing and developed worlds alike.

Emile Frison, Director General

International Plant Genetic Resources Institute

Rome, Italy

French diet guru Michel Montignac has the dangerous audacity to claim that "quantity doesn't matter" ("A Recipe for Good Health"). Having grown up outside Philadelphia and spent the last five years living in France, I've seen no cultural difference more shocking than the levels of food consumption in France and the United States. Despite the fact that the most well-known French foods--from quiche Lorraine and foie gras to pastries, cheese and red wine--have terrible weight-gain potential, and despite the fact that the McDonald's restaurants in France are twice as crowded as in America, the French manage to stay thin because they eat less of what's bad. Pizza in the United States means a big, greasy deep-dish. In France it's a skinny little shard you eat with a fork. Fast-food soft drinks in America can reach beyond 9.5 deciliters. In France you can't find a McDonald's cup bigger than 3.5dl (that's their "Supersize"). Certainly, Montignac makes good points about the importance of eating healthy foods. But please, don't tell readers that quantity doesn't matter. They've got enough fast-food marketers telling them that already.