purslane
faqs.org
Simopoulos AP, Gopalan C (eds): Plants in Human Health and Nutrition Policy. World Rev Nutr Diet. Basel, Karger, 2003, vol 91, pp 22–40 Nutritional Composition of Selected
Wild Plants in the Diet of Crete Sabrina Zeghichia, Stamatina Kallithrakaa, Artemis P. Simopoulosb, Zaxarias Kypriotakisc
a Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, Crete, Greece;
b The Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health, Washington, D.C., USA and c Exoli gsoponias TEI Kritis, Iraklio, Crete, Greece
Introduction
The diet of Crete continues to gain enormous popularity [1]. Today, this diet is virtually the same as it was in 4500 BC. The diet first came to the attention of the medical community in the 1960s when an influential 15-year study revealed that men from Crete were healthier than the other men surveyed in
seven different countries – Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Finland, Yugoslavia, Japan and the USA [2]. There was something unique about the diet of Crete.
One of us (A.P.S.) identified the missing clues to be (1) the ideal ratio of essential fatty acids, –6:–3, of 2–1:1 and (2) the high antioxidant content of the diet due to the high intake of wild plants and fruits, such as purslane (Portulaca oleracea) which is a wild plant, eaten widely in Crete, that is high in lpha-ilnolenic acid, vitamin E, glutathione and other antioxidants [3–5]. Another good source of alpha-linolenic acid in the diet of Crete is walnuts [6, 7]. People in Crete consume
large quantities of greens and wild plants daily, in addition to their high consumption of olive oil which is a very rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids. The low content of –6 fatty acids in olive oil, less than 8%, leads to a
favorable ratio of –6 to –3 fatty acids [8]. In addition, olive oil is rich in antioxidants and squalene [9, 10]. Hence, this composition places olive oil in a unique and superior position of other vegetable oils such as corn, sunflower, safflower, soybean, cottonseed, etc. [1, 7–11]. The Lyon Diet Heart Study clearly showed that adopting a modified Cretan Mediterranean-type diet reduced the incidence of sudden death from coronary heart disease significantly, and total death by 70% in 2 years and 33% in 5 years
EC<:-} |
