Couldn't find the book I was thinking about. I read a long time ago that the French Paradox was actually a myth. Here is the gist of what I recall reading (taken from a web site):
Heard it on the e-vine
by Martin Field
French paradox - hit or myth?
In 1995 "60 Minutes" ran a program called The French Paradox where they investigated France's comparatively low incidence of death from heart disease and questioned how a country famous for its diet of rich foods could maintain its population in good cardiovascular health.
The "60 Minutes" expert crew alleged that this low mortality rate was due to the fact that France was a world leader in wine consumption and that wine, particularly red, counteracted the adverse effects of "bad" cholesterol. Great news for red wine drinkers: just eat like the French, drink a few glasses of red every day and Voila! avoid the risk of heart attack. Suddenly red wine was promoted as a health drink almost on a par with orange juice, sales rocketed and winemakers were delighted.
It couldn't last. In the May 29 issue of the British Medical Journal (
www.bmj.com) authors Law and Wald argued that the low incidence of heart disease in France could be accounted for by factors other than wine consumption. As well as citing significant underreporting by French doctors of deaths from heart disease, they offered a time lag theory of to explain the paradox.
"We propose that the difference is due to the time lag between increases in consumption of animal fat and serum cholesterol concentrations and the resulting increase in mortality from heart disease - similar to the recognised time lag between smoking and lung cancer. Consumption of animal fat and serum cholesterol concentrations increased only recently in France but did so decades ago in Britain…" Their article also asserted that although there is evidence of a correlation between alcohol consumption and lower heart disease this occurs with consumption of all types of alcoholic drinks, not just wine.
Acknowledging the Law and Wald hypothesis at the European Society of Cardiology (
www.esc.be) conference in Barcelona early September, Dr Michel de Lorgeril further pointed out that French men have one of the highest alcohol-related premature death rates in Europe, including death caused by cirrhosis of the liver and gastrointestinal cancer. And to put the final nail in the paradoxical coffin (so to speak) he added, "French men have a lower average life span than others in Europe."
The French paradox is apparently no more.
What to do? Drink alcohol in moderation, eat less fatty foods, exercise regularly…and hope for the best.
© Martin Field
http://www.stratsplace.com/martin/french_paradox.html 
