Diet and Health: Patterns Matter Most :

The average American guy grew up believing that real men don’t eat broccoli or, for that matter, salmon. He was weaned to franks and burgers, with steak or roast on Sunday — accompanied, of course, by catsup and fries. Start the day with bacon and eggs, share some doughnuts at the office, snack on chips and dip, enjoy a bowl of ice cream on the way to bed — it’s the all-American way to eat.

It’s nearly impossible for a man to have made it into the 21st century without understanding that you are what you eat. But understanding is one thing, making changes quite another. Often the barrier to change is a preoccupation with individual choices: Can I have eggs for breakfast? Is oatmeal better than raisin bran? If I order fish, can I get fries?

Individual choices are meaningful, but if they fit into a sound overall dietary pattern, there will be plenty of wiggle room, so men can eat at least some of the “bad” things they really love without worrying about the consequences. Harvard studies of men

A report from Harvard’s Health Professionals Follow-up Study examined the effect of dietary patterns on the health of 44,875 men. Instead of focusing on individual foods or nutrients, it used a 131-item food-frequency questionnaire to evaluate overall eating patterns. When the study began in 1986, all the men were 40–75 years old and none had been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or cancer. In addition to providing their medical histories and dietary information, the volunteers also disclosed facts about their family medical histories, smoking, height, and weight. The researchers tracked the men to see if diet influenced the development of heart disease.

The scientists identified two overall dietary patterns. One was a typical American diet, characterized by a high consumption of red meat, processed meat, refined grains, sweets, and desserts. The other pattern was a “prudent” diet, high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish, and poultry.

The volunteers’ diets were scored according to how closely they approached the American or prudent patterns. The results were striking: Men with the most American patterns were 64% more likely to develop heart disease than men with the most prudent diets. And in a follow-up study, the prudent diet was also linked to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. In both cases, these associations remained strong even after the scientists adjusted the findings for smoking, drinking, and obesity (more common in the men who followed the American pattern) as well as vitamin use and exercise (more prevalent with the prudent pattern).

A European study of men

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