Today, “Paleo” and “Keto” are all the rage, and time will tell if they are indeed viable in helping people to lose weight and keep it off. But sometimes diet should be more about weight – the ideal diet actually helps improve other health parameters.
The Mediterranean Diet is a great, enduring example, and new studies are still showing positive effects on health.
A new study by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers examined health parameters in women who reported consuming a Mediterranean-type diet. The team found a 25% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease amon those participants who consumed a diet rich in plants and olive oil and low in meats and sweets. The team also explored why and how a Mediterranean diet might mitigate risk of heart disease and stroke by examining a panel of 40 biomarkers, representing new and established biological contributors to heart disease.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the Mediterranean diet include eating mostly plant-based foods (produce, whole grains, nuts and beans), replacing butter with olive oil, using herbs and spices to flavor food instead of using salt, limiting red meat to three to four times a month, eating fish and poultry three to four times a week, and drinking red wine in moderation.
Randomized trials in Mediterranean countries along with observational studies have previously linked the Mediterranean-style diet to reductions in cardiovascular disease, but the link to how this was done was obscure. The current research draws on data from more than 25,000 female health professionals who participated in the Women’s Health Study.
Participants completed food intake questionnaires about diet, provided blood samples to measure several biomarkers, and were followed for up to 12 years. The primary outcomes analyzed in this study were incidents of cardiovascular disease, defined as first events of heart attack, stroke, coronary arterial revascularization and cardiovascular death.
The team categorized the participants as having a low, middle or upper Mediterranean diet intake. They found that 428 (4.2%) of the women in the low group experienced a cardiovascular event compared to 356 (3.8%) in the middle group and 246 (3.8%) in the upper group, representing a relative risk reduction of 23% and 28% respectively, a benefit that is similar in percentages to statins or other preventive drugs.
The biomarker measurements showed changes in signals of inflammation (accounting for 29% of the cardiovascular disease risk reduction), glucose metabolism and insulin resistance (27.9%), and BMI (27.3%). The team also found dietary influences on blood pressure, various forms of cholesterol, branch-chain amino acids and other biomarkers, but found that these accounted for less of the association between Mediterranean diet and risk reduction.
This new study “has a strong public health message that modest changes in known cardiovascular disease risk factors, particularly those relating to inflammation, glucose metabolism and insulin resistance, contribute to the long-term benefit of a Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular disease risk. This understanding may have important downstream consequences for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease,” said lead author Shafqat Ahmad, PhD, a research fellow at the Brigham and at the Harvard Chan School.
We encourage you to select a daily diet that works best for you, after researching the benefits of each and measuring those against your individual health needs. And don’t forget to supplement to fill in any gaps and to combat effects of daily stress. Our Fucosea and Oysrelax are valuable and will help promote well-being.
Ahmad et al. “Assessment of Risk Factors and Biomarkers Associated With Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Among Women Consuming a Mediterranean Diet.” JAMA Network Open, 2018; 1 (8): e185708 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.5708