Is the Mediterranean diet the solution to health and longevity? Some clouds darken the olive oil happiness.
Is It Healthy?
Vegetables, fruits, and legumes, healthy fats and red wine. For years we heard that the Mediterranean Diet, a form of nutrition modeled after the food habits of those living along, well, the Mediterranean, improves health and well-being.
Even a meta analysis published in the renowned British Medical Journal came to the conclusion that it reduces the risk of dying from cancer and lowers the chances of developing cardiovascular, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
Or does it? A study published in January found that things aren’t as simple.
Rate of Heart Disease Similar in Spain and US
The Internal Medicine Department of the Carlos Haya Hospital in Malaga, Spain, examined 2,270 adults for cardiovascular risk factors.
60% of these were obese, 65% had high cholesterol levels, 33% suffered from high blood pressure and 7% were found to have diabetes.
For the Spanish subjects of this study, the risk of coronary disease was as high as in the US and actually higher than in Great Britain.
Weren’t those two often cited as examples of bad eating habits?
The study’s leader, Dr. Ricardo Gómez-Huelgas, also told press agency ANI that “cardiovascular diseases account for 33% of deaths in Spain, making it the main cause of mortality in the country.”
Was it a Fad Diet?
There is a simple explanation for this discrepancy between the earlier positive and now negative scientific findings of this style of nutrition: the main cause for cardiovascular disease is obesity. And no matter how healthy the ingredients of your food are, eaten in excess they will make you gain weight.
In healthy quantities the Mediterranean diet may very well be superior to other forms of nutrition, but going Mediterranean is no excuse to gorge yourself in food, even if it’s olive oil and legumes.
Picture courtesy of “yeah chià!“.