This is what the nutritional recommendations look like in France – in Paris, you don’t need to stress about them | Health

The French know the national nutritional recommendations quite well, but the choices are also influenced by taste and the seasonal supply.

HELSINKI/PARIS In Finland, the discussion about the new nutritional recommendations has already sparked a heated debate for several days.

The French have a more relaxed approach to local nutritional recommendations.

– I eat what I want and go with taste first, a Parisian Paul Vancutsen says.

asked Parisians how they feel about their national nutritional recommendations.

At least some know the rules of thumb: five vegetables and fruits a day, salt, sugar and fat should be avoided, as well as red meat.

The nutritional recommendations of Finland and France are largely the same, but there are differences in the amount of recommended daily and weekly portions. In France, the latest national nutritional recommendations are from 2019.

You can familiarize yourself with the countries’ nutritional recommendations with the help of the graphic below.

The purpose of nutritional recommendations is to promote healthy eating habits and improve public health, but they are also influenced by cultural differences and habits.

In recent years, recommendations have also been partially guided by the environmental effects of the production of certain nutrients.

In the case of red meat, in addition to climate effects, the recommendations take into account the fact that heavy consumption of meat has been found to increase the risk of colon and rectal cancer.

Intestinal cancers have become more common in Finland almost every year since the beginning of the 1950s, when measurements were started. However, the statistics are affected by several other factors, such as the development of diagnostics and the aging of the population.

You can familiarize yourself with the development of bowel cancers diagnosed in Finland in the graphic below.

According to the recent nutritional recommendation of the Institute of Health and Welfare and the State Nutrition Advisory Board, it is recommended to keep red meat consumption to a maximum of 350 grams per week.

The recommendations recommend avoiding processed meat products, such as cold cuts and sausages, as much as possible.

Parisian Fabrice de Sournac don’t find this startling.

– I personally do not eat processed meat products at all, because they contain additives that are harmful to health, says de Sournac.

On average, French people consume slightly more meat than Finns. According to French recommendations, you should eat no more than 500 grams of red meat per week.

You can familiarize yourself with the meat consumption of Finns and French people and the prevalence of intestinal cancer with the help of the graphic below.

Unlike in Finland, nutritional recommendations do not raise eyebrows in France, and people have not climbed the barricades because of them.

For the French, healthiness is important, but taste and quality also weigh in the scales.

– The quality of the raw materials is really important to me and I try to buy seasonal products, living in Paris Charlotte Desvallées says.