In addition, moderate wine drinking improves insulin sensitivity.  This is
not seen with other forms of alcohol.

Here's an excerpt from Protein Power:
"In our research files we have the report of an old study done by a New York
physician back in the early sixties in which he divided his dieting patients
into three groups - wine drinkers, hard-liquor drinkers, and nondrinkers.
He kept all groups on the same reducing diet and found that the wine
drinkers lost the most weight.  He had no idea why; he just reported his
results.

They make sense now because we understand that wine improves insulin
sensitivity.  Many researchers believe the disparity between the levels of
heart disease found in France and other southern European countries and
those of the U.S. and Britain - the so-called French paradox - can be laid
at the doorstep of increased wine consumption.  And so, like the French,
Italians, and others living around the Mediterranean, we can increase our
insulin sensitivity, decrease our insulin levels, and enjoy life more by
adding a moderate amount of wine to our program.

Moderate means a glass of wine or two - no more - with one meal. Wine does
have some carbohydrate content left in it after the fermentation process, so
the drier the wine, the fewer grams of carbohydrate it will contain.  A good
rule of thumb is that dry white wine and red wines contain about 1 to 1.5
grams of carbohydrate per ounce; sweet dessert wines or sherries contain
significantly more, too many more to enjoy them in the intervention phases
of this program.  If you choose to drink wine with your meals, remember to
include these grams as a part of your daily carbohydrate allotment.  More on
that in the next section.

Distilled spirits, while they contain scant to no carbohydrates - it's all
been turned to alcohol - tend to raise insulin and to impair insulin
sensitivity if consumed in more than modest quantities.  In general, avoid
distilled alcohol during your intervention, except for an occasional
cocktail containing a single ounce of distilled liquor, straight, on the
rocks, or in a mixed drink (no sweet mixers allowed).

An occasional margarita is okay if you make your own without the sugar syrup
most bars use.  Forget about beer, except Miller Lite (3.2 grams of
carbohydrate per can)."

Rob
-------------------------
> There must be something else accounting for the high death rate in GB
> (the total population count isn't that different).
>
> My first guess would be the EFA ratios, w-3 supply or w-6 excess
>
> France: much Huile Olive , also walnut oil, less fried food
> GB: no native olives, much fried food (very probable with high w-6)