The traditional Nordic diet: why Scandinavian women dont get fat.

Posted on Mon, 21 Jan 13

Although the traditional Mediterranean diet has received a lot of attention other traditional dietary patterns may be equally healthful, like the traditional Nordic diet for example.

The traditional Nordic diet is “rich in foods grown in the Nordic countries, e.g. apples and berries, roots and cabbages, rye, oats and barley, low-fat milk products, rapeseed oil, and fish (salmon and Baltic herring); it is also low in red meat, processed meat products and alcohol.”

Many of these foods have unique health benefits; studies have found that herring may reduce risk for chronic disease like heart disease and cancer, and dark rye bread is much healthier than wheat; it is higher in antioxidants and vitamins and has also been shown to lower cholesterol while wheat bread has no effect (1-5).

A recent study of the Nordic diet in 4720 Finnish people found that those who ate close to this traditional dietary pattern were less likely to have an excessively large waist circumference (a measure of abdominal fat) compared with subjects with low adherence to the diet (6).

“Hypotheses suggest that the Nordic diet has multiple health effects for Nordics" commented the study group. "Recent randomised clinical trial on Swedish hypercholesterolaemic subjects suggested that the Nordic-style diet reduces cardiovascular risk factors. In addition, results from a Danish cohort of men and women showed a significant inverse association between the Nordic food index (which illustrates high use of apples and pears, cabbages, roots, rye bread, oatmeal and fish) and total mortality."

 References:

1. Terry P et al. Fatty fish consumption lowers the risk of endometrial cancer: a nationwide case-control study in Sweden. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. Jan;11(1):143-5
2. Terry P et al. Fish consumption and breast cancer risk. Nutr Cancer. 2002;44(1):1-6.
3. Lindqvist H et al. Herring (Clupea harengus) supplemented diet influences risk factors for CVD in overweight subjects.Eur J CLin Nutr.  2007 Sep;61(9):1106-13.
4. Michalska A et al. Antioxidant contents and antioxidative properties of traditional rye breads. J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Feb 7;55(3):734-40.
5. Lienonen KS et al. Rye bread decreases serum total and LDL cholesterol in men with moderately elevated serum cholesterol. J Nutr. 2000 Feb;130(2):164-70.
6. Kanerva N, Kaartinen NE, Schwab U, Lahti-Koski M, Männistö S. Adherence to the Baltic Sea diet consumed in the Nordic countries is associated with lower abdominal obesity. Br J Nutr. 2012 May 10:1-9. [Epub ahead of print]