Mountain living may protect against heart disease

Greek researchers have conducted a study that shows that mountain dwellers may enjoy better heart health than low-landers. Greek deaths from heart disease are already amongst the lowest in the world, a fact that is attributed to the Mediterranean diet. The study shows that although the mountain villagers were at greater risk of heart disease than the lowlanders, there were in fact fewer heart-disease-related deaths among the mountain dwellers. The British Heart Foundation has criticised the study, stating that it did not take into account activity levels or diet and therefore the results are not robust.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk, accessed 15 March 2005