The Optimal Diet

If you try to adjust your diet to take into account all the recent news about the health effects of various foods, what would you end up eating? Here's a list, called the Polymeal, from the British Medical Journal (subscription required but the list below is from this summary):

Eating 4 oz. of fish four times a week cuts the risk of cardiovascular
disease by 14 percent, while 14 oz. of fruits and vegetables per day lowers risk another 21 percent. Add 2.4 oz. of almonds and 1/10 oz. fresh garlic for proven cholesterol lowering, and enjoy an average 5.1mm Hg drop in systolic blood pressure when you top it off with 100g of dark chocolate. Of course no Polymeal would be complete without a daily 5 oz. glass of wine (any variety), shown to cut overall cardiovascular disease risk by 32 percent.

[Thanks to BenS for the pointer] I'll post about the libertarian diet tomorrow.

UPDATE: It turns out the original piece in the British Medical Jl was probably intended as satire. It hooked numerous members of the media. [Thanks to Craig Newmark for the tip] See here and here, for more information. All the more reason to consider the libertarian diet I'll be posting about tomorrow.