Measuring The Grease In Food From Greece
New Study Says Many Tasty Dishes Are High In Fat
When a nutrition advocacy group put Greek dishes through lab tests, they found that some were heavy on artery-clogging fat.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest had some good news for lovers of the Mediterranean cuisine: Some Greek dishes, including chicken, lamb or pork souvlaki, are as healthy as the healthiest meals at Italian, Chinese or typical American restaurants.
But "others make you wonder whether 'Greece' should be spelled 'Grease,' " the advocates wrote: A typical entree of stuffed grape leaves or spinach pie, for example, has more fat than a Big Mac, while a gyro or an order of moussaka has twice as much.
So how have the Greeks survived? Officials from the CSPI explained that over the centuries, the Greek's diets consisted largely of vegetables, grains and olive oil and a small amount of seafood, meat, and cheese. Modern Greeks don't necessarily eat spanakopita every day.
But the average American can stroll down Eat Street and have a different high-fat dish every night -- pizza on Monday, a beef burrito on Tuesday, moo shu pork on Wednesday.
"Our arteries and bellies show it," wrote the CSPI's Jayne Hurley and Bonnie Liebman.
Chewing The Fat
To come up with their fat counts, CSPI staff bought dinner-sized takeout portions of six popular main dishes, one sandwich, one side dish and one dessert at nine Greek restaurants in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
Then they made a composite sample for each dish by blending equal portion of that dish from each restaurants. The "averaged" dishes were sent to a laboratory and analyzed for calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugar.
The study authors note: "While our results can't tell you exactly what's served in the Greek restaurant in your neighborhood, they do offer a ballpark estimate of what a typical dish might contain."
To see the CSPI's chart comparing the nutritional content of Greek dishes against other cuisines', click here.
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