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Btw:  Red meats, esp. liver, are great sources of the B-vitamins which are
believed
to help lower homocysteine  levels (B-3, B-6, B-12). Anyone for pâté foie
gras?

I hope you are joking abot foie gras. you just have to see once a french
farmer forcing into the throat  of geese ( litterally) kilos of  cooked
grains  to realise that there is something very unhealthy in that sick
liver.
Living in France i never got the impression that people were immune of heart
disease. it is a common occurence in middle age " bon vivant"  ( means
eating well .... in quantity) busy ( high stress level ) mens. BE wary of
what we deduct from stastistics...  Compared to north americans statistics
french might seem less prone to heart disease may  be because people don't
culturally snack between meal , and give some rest for the body to deal with
the amount of food eaten at meals.
Jean-claude