Mediterranean diet may be better for your heart than cutting down on fat

If you want to reap heart-healthy benefits, you may want to go on the Mediterranean diet.

A Spanish study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Feb. 25, showed the Mediterranean diet was able to help people who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease more than a low-fat diet. What's more, subjects who ate a Mediterranean diet heavy in nuts had the largest reduction in stroke risk.

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The Mediterranean Diet asks eaters to follow a pyramid that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts, legumes, seeds, herbs and spices. People are asked to eat fish and seafood at least two times a week, consume poultry, eggs, cheese and yogurt in moderate daily to weekly amounts and avoid red meats and sweets when they can. Drinking plenty of water and having wine in moderation are also encouraged.

The researchers looked at a group of 7,447 people in Spain who had a risk factors for heart disease including smoking, being overweight, having high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. All participants were between the ages of 55 to 80 years of age.

The subjects were instructed to follow either a Mediterranean diet that emphasized nuts, a Mediterranean diet that focused on olive oil, or a low-fat diet, and they were followed-up with for about five years. The olive oil group consumed about 34 ounces of olive oil a week, while those in the nuts group ate about one ounce of walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds a day. Both Mediterranean diet groups consumed vegetables, fruits, fish, drank wine with meals and occasionally ate white meat while avoiding red meat.

Groups that ate the Mediterranean diet regardless of if they ate more nuts or olive oil had a 30 percent greater reduction in heart disease risks compared to the low-fat group. Particularly, the olive-oil group had a 33 percent reduction in stroke risk, while the nuts group had a 46 percent lower stroke risk.

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Dr. Steven E. Nissen, chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, pointed out to the New York Times that the benefits of low-fat diets have not been as lauded because they are hard to maintain.

"Now along comes this group and does a gigantic study in Spain that says you can eat a nicely balanced diet with fruits and vegetables and olive oil and lower heart disease by 30 percent," he said. "And you can actually enjoy life."

In addition, the Mediterranean diet shows that people don't necessarily need to cut all fats from their life in order to live a healthy lifestyle, Walter Willet, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, told USA Today. The Mediterranean diet is rich in "healthy fats" like omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon and walnuts, but is low in saturated fats from fried foods.

"Fat in the diet continues to be demonized, even though the evidence is clear that some types of fat improve blood cholesterol," Willett said. "This study adds further proof that diets high in healthy fats can be superior to a low-fat diet."

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But , Dean Ornish, president of the non-profit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco -- who created the Ornish diet -- explained to USA Today that the study's low-fat group only lowered their calories from fat consumption from 39 percent to 37.

Ornish said the American Heart Association encourages a diet with less than 30 percent calories from fat, and his diet pushes people to get less than 10 percent of their calories from fat. He believed that the researchers may have exaggerated what they discovered, and that the declines in heart attacks and death found by the researchers may actually just be due to chance.

"The authors should have concluded that the Mediterranean diet reduced cardiovascular risk when compared to whatever diet they were eating before, not when compared to a low-fat diet," Ornish said.

[arestarx]

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[Nate650]

Not surprising since the low-fat campaign has been a complete failure.

[Stile_Mediterraneo_Italy]

FANTASTIC!!!! Another medical research that confirms how great the Med diet is!! After living abroad for many years, in 2007 I moved back to Puglia Southern Italy and started the Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School together with my sister (who also works as a cardiologist). Our goal is to promote this HEALTHY & TASTY way of eating.
The main principle of the Med diet (which is a way of eating, not a diet to lose weight) is that a combination of GOOD Carbs, GOOD fats and GOOD proteins and vegetables should be eaten, in moderation, at all meals.
EVOO is not only a GOOD FAT, but also rich in anti-oxidants. Medical research has shown that people using EVOO live longer and can prevent lots of medical diseases (not just heart related).
EVOO should substitute other bad fats and should be properly used (raw on top of food).
Good proteins (legumes, white meat, seafood) are eaten. Red meat is NOT banned, but eaten in moderation.
Also CARBS are important to have a balanced diet (we need energy), but we need to eat the GOOD Carbs. Medical research has shown that carbs, such as durum wheat, farro, barley, can prevent lots of cancer diseases. We should avoid food made with bad carbs (white flour, sweets).
In Southern Italy, pasta is made with durum wheat, never with white flour.
My sister also wrote an e-book where she explains how the Med diet works and presents lots of tasty recipes.
This e-book is available here: italycookingcourses.com/e-book/

[foo8259]

CARBS are NOT necessary for energy -- that is a myth perpetuated by clueless dietitians and vegans. Your body can make the little sugar required from proteins (meat)while getting its main energy from fats -- 80% of calories and preferably saturated.

[maiingan]

Many people have been enamored of all things Mediterranean for centuries, since they started giving obeisance to ancient Greek culture. Only origin of democracy, etc. The Mediterranean Sea was the center of the world, to people who didn't yet know there was a "New World" or even Australia. This Mediterranean Diet craze seems to me to be a continuation of this worshipful attitude. I must say that one problem with this study is that it doesn't qualify the pan on "red meat" as only applying to domesticated meat, and meat from animals unnaturally fed grain even just at the end of their lives. Game meat and meat from, say, bison who were 100% grass-fed, cannot come in for this criticism. Another problem is that this menu depends almost totally on agriculture. The exteme cultural bias of the researchers completely ignores the many very healthy people, eating a variety of diets, who lived free in the Americas before 1491. Reports from early European visitors/conquerors often commented on the height and superb health of the Native Americans. There is more than one way for people to achieve excellent cardiovascular health, but you wouldn't know it from this study. I've had it with this Mediterranean bias with blinders on.

[andreaaurelio]

We believed in Mediterranean Diet and we have been promoting it through our website, www.mediterraneandietforall.com . We believe that Med Diet is a way of living. It is a proven diet not only for weight loss but for health. You may visit our site and find out more about it.
BR/
Andrea

[foo8259]

No one has yet successfully defined an "Mediterranean diet", but there is a real human diet still, we have eaten for millions of years -- the so called Paleo diet composed mainly of meat, fish, eggs and nuts -- nothing that requires processing before being eaten.

[Photorecipe]

Im glad to read this news! Today olive oil is one of the most popular edible oils worldwide both for its nutritional value as for its high gastronomic qualities. Its high content of unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E, natural antioxidants and other nutrients make medical science considers as one of the healthiest.
There are many studies showing the benefits of the Mediterranean diet on weight control, cancer prevention breast, cerebro-vascular accidents, from heart attacks and anaemia, among other diseases. The Mediterranean diet besides being varied and balanced nutritional intake, is rich in fiber, unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants. More than a diet, is said to be a way of life, which to generate a positive effect obviously be combined with moderate exercise daily.

Regards,

Photorecipe

[raflin1]

My Grandpa and Grandma's breakfast EVERY morning consists of three slices of bacon (each) with one FRIED egg each. Toast with butter, one slice for each. Grandma is 92, Grandpa is 91.

[Andrew_09]

Generally speaking, the Spanish are physically fit compared to the UK and the US. Albeit, the cultures are very different, but even at bars, they have wine, olive oil, and food that incorporate the Mediterranean diet. It is normal for them to eat that way. It is, after all, their diet. Not to mention their food is not only healthy, it is also very delicious. They clearly know how to eat.

[jtdev1]

With all the studies claiming a "30%" reduction in this or that we should all be living to 300 by now.

I still haven't seen anyone live to the 150 mark yet...

We are all going to die some day, some way, so who really cares.

[margieboy]

The point isn't to live forever, but to have an active, rewarding healthy lifestyle while you are still alive. Too many focus on the destination when they could be focusing on the joys of the path itself.

[jtdev1]

Bull on that, My grandmother is 93 years old, always took great care of herself throughout her entire life.

She's now in a nursing home can't remember what day it is, she's just waiting to die.

What a terrible way to go.