Mediterranean diet can lower risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular events

[DCUK NewsBot]

Eating a Mediterranean diet with no restriction on fat intake could reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular events and cancer, new research suggests. The Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to benefit people with diabetes by improving blood glucose control, involves eating a high amount of fruits and vegetables. Consumption of monounsaturated fats accounts for roughly 30 to 40 per cent of total daily calorie intake, which is found in foods such as avocados and nuts. In this new study, researchers from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, Minnesota, US looked to evaluate the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. After scouring various electronic databases, the researchers included controlled trials that involved 100 persons or more who were followed for at least one year. The participants were all monitored for mortality, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The definition of a Mediterranean diet consisted of two parts. The first part was a lack of restriction on total fat intake; the second part involved the inclusion of two or more of seven components: high fruit and vegetable intake, high monounsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio, high grain and cereal consumption, high legume intake, moderate dairy product consumption, moderate wine intake, and low meat and meat product consumption, but with high fish intake. A total of 53 unique studies fitted the criteria, and the researchers found that researchers with the highest adherence to a Mediterranean diet had lower total cancer mortality, lower incidence of all cancers, lower incidence of major CV events and lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Dr Hanna E. Bloomfield, MD, MPH said they found "that healthy diets can include a lot of fat, especially if it's healthy fat; and the emphasis in the United States at least for the past thirty years has been [that] it's important to reduce fat - fat of all kind - fat's the bad thing." Bloomfield added: "It turns out that the obesity epidemic in this country is probably more due to our increased consumption of refined grains and added sugar and not so much from our fat consumption." None of the studies found that eating a Mediterranean diet affected all-cause mortality, but the researchers have called for future studies to investigate whether specific diet components are more beneficial than others. The study appears online in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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[Magisham]

Eating a Mediterranean diet with no restriction on fat intake could reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular events and cancer, new research suggests. The Mediterranean diet, which has been shown to benefit people with diabetes by improving blood glucose control, involves eating a high amount of fruits and vegetables. Consumption of monounsaturated fats accounts for roughly 30 to 40 per cent of total daily calorie intake, which is found in foods such as avocados and nuts. In this new study, researchers from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, Minnesota, US looked to evaluate the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. After scouring various electronic databases, the researchers included controlled trials that involved 100 persons or more who were followed for at least one year. The participants were all monitored for mortality, diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The definition of a Mediterranean diet consisted of two parts. The first part was a lack of restriction on total fat intake; the second part involved the inclusion of two or more of seven components: high fruit and vegetable intake, high monounsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio, high grain and cereal consumption, high legume intake, moderate dairy product consumption, moderate wine intake, and low meat and meat product consumption, but with high fish intake. A total of 53 unique studies fitted the criteria, and the researchers found that researchers with the highest adherence to a Mediterranean diet had lower total cancer mortality, lower incidence of all cancers, lower incidence of major CV events and lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Dr Hanna E. Bloomfield, MD, MPH said they found "that healthy diets can include a lot of fat, especially if it's healthy fat; and the emphasis in the United States at least for the past thirty years has been [that] it's important to reduce fat - fat of all kind - fat's the bad thing." Bloomfield added: "It turns out that the obesity epidemic in this country is probably more due to our increased consumption of refined grains and added sugar and not so much from our fat consumption." None of the studies found that eating a Mediterranean diet affected all-cause mortality, but the researchers have called for future studies to investigate whether specific diet components are more beneficial than others. The study appears online in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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They always go on about the Mediterranean diet, but have you actually lived with Greeks and Cypriots? Yes there are lots of salads and fruit and vegetables. But there is also loads of meat, a lot of stuff is fried, there's bread with everything and they use lots of salt. They also eat lovely cakes soaked in syrup and glyko, which is fruit preserved in sugar. I am not knocking it because all the food is delicious, but it is not ALL what you would think of as healthy. Perhaps the secret is that they eat at mealtimes, all together at a table. They are not snacking crisps or sweets or biscuits between meals. The women do seem to stay stick thin for years despite the fantastic food.

 

[catherinecherub]

I think you have to adapt the Med diet to one that suits you and we all know that we have to test to make sure that the foods will not raise our blood sugars.
You only have to look at the different ways that folks here approach the LC diet and they are not using a blueprint but an individual way of making it work for them.
I agree about the snacking, it is not something that I do very often.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149090.php

 

[phoenix]

The definition of the elements contained in a 'Med diet' is in the blurb.The theoretical idea of the Med diet is based on the diet eaten in the 1960s not today. (and even that is tweaked, not much discussion on the wild greens that formed a part of the Cretan and other Med diets The most recent actual research on the diet probably comes from Spain . I can't find the link to the actual diet quickly but the list on this sitehttp://betterhealthwhileaging.net/how-to-follow-mediterranean-diet-for-senior-health/ is (from memory) what was advised in the trials .

 

[Magisham]

My opinions are based on the Cypriot side of the family, who do still cook all the traditional meals. An interesting fact is, being Greek Orthodox, they fast for 2 days a week. They still eat, but no meat, dairy or sweet treats. Perhaps this was the original Fast Diet!