New Mediterranean Diet benefits found, including reducing heart risk

 

Managing a life with heart disease or high blood pressure can be very difficult. Taking pills and cutting out fat and sodium can prove a real inconvenience. For those of you who have a history of heart disease and high blood pressure in your family there is hope, without drastically changing your lifestyle. The Mediterranean Diet has proven to help you manage your health and keep your heart and arteries clean and healthy.

The traditional Mediterranean diet is centered around healthy fats, and lots of fruits and vegetables. A typical meal could be grilled fish, salad tossed in olive oil, and a glass of red wine. Thus foods such as red meat, butter, sugar, and lots of carbohydrates are usually avoided. The rumor that the Mediterranean Diet is good for your heart is not new news, but it had not been significantly proven in medical studies. One research group set out to provide concrete evidence. The study recruited 7,500 people and divided them into three groups, those who followed the Mediterranean diet with an olive-oil basis, another Mediterranean Diet with a nut basis, and a third group who followed a low-fat diet.

After studying the groups for a period of five years researchers counted the number of heart related problems such as stroke, a heart attack, and sudden death due to a heart condition. The were 96 incidents in the Mediterranean-olive oil group, 83 in the Mediterranean-nut group and 109 in the low-fat group. Thus those who followed the Mediterranean Diet had a 30 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease. And the most significant difference between the groups was the incidents in stroke. Dr. Ramon Estruch, a study leader from the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona, says "we think diet is better than a drug." And he's right. Not only does the Mediterranean diet come without side effects, but it also allows you to enjoy some of your favorite foods, without feeling like you are on a traditional diet.

The Mayo Clinic offers the following key components of the Mediterranean Diet:

Eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nutsNuts, no more than a handful a dayReplacing butter with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oilUsing herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foodsLimiting red meat to no more than a few times a monthEating fish and poultry at least twice a weekDrinking red wine in moderation (optional)

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