The world's healthiest foods

by Bob Sassone, Posted Apr 25th 2007 @ 3:48PM

Health magazine has picked the five healthiest foods that you can get from five different countries. The list isn't complete, of course (I'm not even sure if these are the healthiest foods in the world), but it's a quick guide to the healthy foods that a few different countries have given us.

Spain has given us olive oil, Japan soy, Greece has given us yogurt, and lentils come from India. I've never had kimchi, from Korea, but that's on the list too. You can get recipes for each food at the link above as well.

So readers, what about the United States? What healthy foods have we contributed to the world? And no, Ring Dings don't count.

Filed Under: Magazines, Lists, Health & Medical
Tags: greece, healthiest foods, healthy foods, india, japan, kimchi, korea, lentils, olive oil, soy, spain, world's healthiest foods, yogurt

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-25-2007 @4:00PM Amy said... I'd say we have contributed turkey and potatos (both native to the Aamericas, I believe).
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4-25-2007 @5:07PM anita said... tomatoes
peanuts
squash
beans (as in pinto, not green)
salmon

also ran: buffalo
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4-25-2007 @5:04PM Alexandrialeigh said... I think that article in Health is very misleading.

I don't think Spain is where olive oil came from, first of all. It's much more ancient than that, and olives were grown in ancient civilzations like in Egypt and Israel for a variety of purposes.

I also think there should be a distinction between a "food" (something that requires ingredients like yogurt) and a "crop" or "plant" (like soy or lentils).

As far as the US goes...if we're talking crops, maybe corn or squash? Or for foods, maybe...pb&j? I have no idea.
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4-25-2007 @5:46PM sabbrinna said... There is evidence of cultured milk products being produced as food for at least 4,500 years, since the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest yoghurts were probably spontaneously fermented by wild bacteria living on the goat skin bags carried by the Bulgars (or Hunno-Bulgars), a nomadic people who began migrating into Europe in the 2nd century AD and eventually settled in the Balkans at the end of the 7th century - this is citation from Wikipedia, I hope it;;s enugh to prove you thay Greece have nothing to do with yogurt, it is a Bulgarian national food, as the white cheese you call feta, by the way, I really don't like when people think that the only countries in that part of the world are Greece and Turkey, just becouse it's not true! Bulgarian tribes and country have been ot this land long before you can even emagine,....next time check the history and some encyclopedia before you specify that kind of things. Please.
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4-25-2007 @11:09PM bdw said... Chiles! and Chocolate!
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4-25-2007 @9:52PM Steve Shickles said... Yogurt seems to be the universal good food..

http://www.steveshickles.tv
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4-25-2007 @11:24PM Troy said... Go try kimchi, you're missing out! Dig in to soon doo-boo jjigae (tofu soup), bibimbap, and hae mool pajun, with a table full of banchan.
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4-26-2007 @12:01AM Jon said... I'd thank the Chinese for soy, not the Japanese...
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4-26-2007 @5:37PM monica said... The title of the article seems misleading... surely these are not the "healthiest foods in the world"; where are the vegetables? I guess this is about the most healthy food from country X. If so, they've left out more than a few - why aren't the Americas represented? Or Africa? Oh well.

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4-26-2007 @10:50AM Geoff Hateley said... nice
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4-26-2007 @2:46PM Vlad said... I agree with comments above, article is misleading. Yes yogurt is healthy, but its origin is not proven. What is closest is Bulgaria. I am Georgian myself, and our yogurt is considered different from mainstream yogurt due to the type bacteria. It's good they are yet again acknowledging health effects of certain foods, but misleading and pick'n'choosing is not really helpful.
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4-26-2007 @9:59PM Patrick said... Agreed. This list leaves much to be desired. Still, I can't help but walk away feeling happy, having today eaten 4 of the 5 items listed. I just don't have a good kimche dealer...
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5-12-2007 @10:32PM kigger622 said... it is kind of fishy.

soy, olive oil, yogurt, and even lentils arent kind of food you make. also the origin is very fishy too.

soy-so many countries in asia eat soy daily, not just japan

i never knew olive oil was a spanish invention

lentils- arent they just beans?

kimchi- is a korean food, and is made, with different ingredients

basically America can not contribute to this list. Because America is mixed of lot of cultures so they had to eat something that everyone could eat, which were fatty foods, and mostly meat.

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7-13-2007 @3:37PM tamer said... sabbrina has said yoghurt belongs to bulgarian and she advices to read encylopedia. but she also has to read it well. because it stays there that hunno-bulgaren are an old turkic nomadic tribe. they come to balkans from central asia. if she read the Etymology of 'yoghurt' in wikipedia, she would see the origin of yoghurt.
" The word derives from the Turkish yoğurt [1] (pronounced [jɔˈurt]) deriving from the adjective yoğun, which means "dense" and "thick", or from the verb yoğurmak, which means "to knead" and possibly meant "to make dense" originally -- how yoghurt is made."
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7-01-2007 @7:22PM Kiana said... I love kimchi I've been eating all my life, because my grandma makes it all the time and I've never gotten sick.
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