Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is characterized as a healthful eating style commonly found in southern European countries such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy. It emphasizes a variety of plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and legumes, with olive oil—especially extra virgin—being the primary source of fat. Fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt occupy the middle levels of the diet, while red meats and sweets are limited and consumed sparingly. This dietary pattern has been linked to numerous health benefits, including reduced risks of heart disease, hypertension, and certain cancers, as well as improvements in conditions like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's.
Research has supported the heart health associated with the Mediterranean diet, notably through studies such as the PREDIMED trial, which demonstrated a significant reduction in heart attack risk among participants adhering to this eating style. Additionally, the diet has been noted for its potential to enhance cognitive function and maintain gut health in older adults, suggesting it may contribute to healthier aging. Overall, the Mediterranean diet is not only a culinary tradition but also a lifestyle that promotes well-being across various health spectrums.
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Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is not a single diet but an eating style that is common in the southern European countries of Spain, Greece, Portugal, and southern Italy. The plan is based on a pyramid, with the base formed by fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and legumes. Olive oil, preferably extra virgin, replaces such fats as butter and margarine, and herbs and spices are used liberally to add flavor. The two middle levels of the pyramid are composed of fish and seafood, poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt. The top level of red meats and sweets is limited to small and occasional amounts.
The Mediterranean diet is credited as a way to reduce the risk of death from heart attacks, strokes, and cancer and has been successfully used in mitigating the impacts of Parkinson’s disease, asthma, and Alzheimer’s. A Spanish longitudinal study published in 2013 was hailed as proof of the heart-healthiness of the Mediterranean diet. These findings may have major implications for the United States and for other Western nations where hypertension has become an epidemic. Heart disease affected more than half a billion people worldwide in the early 2020s, according to the World Heart Federation.
Overview
As early as the 1940s, US physicians began to understand that poor nutrition had a major impact on incidences of heart attacks and strokes. A decade later, world attention was drawn to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet when researchers sought to understand why the mortality rates were higher in northern Europe than in southern Europe. In Ancel Keys’s landmark Seven Countries Study, which followed participants in the United States, northern and southern Europe, and Japan, researchers discovered that Mediterranean-style diets could lower rates of hypertension and high cholesterol, thereby reducing mortality after an initial heart attack. In 1999, the Lyon Heart Study revealed a 50 to 70 percent reduction in mortality in subjects who followed a Mediterranean diet plan after experiencing a myocardial infarction. The American Heart Association recognized the validity of the plan and began promoting it as a heart-healthy diet.
The PREDIMED study, which was published online in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2013, followed 7,447 Spaniards without cardiovascular disease (CV) for almost five years. The participants were between the ages of 55 and 80, and all had diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, a family history of CV, or were smokers. Three months into the study, blood pressure rates decreased an average of seven to eight points. After almost five years, researchers found that adherents to the Mediterranean diet plan reduced their risk of heart attack by approximately 30 percent. They chose to end the study early because they felt their results were so overwhelming.
Two of the three groups in the PREDIMED study followed typical Mediterranean diet plans. The major difference was that extra virgin olive oil was delivered to the first group, and a nut mixture of walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts was given to the second. The third group followed a low-fat plan. Sodas, commercially packaged baked goods, and fatty spreads were banned in all three groups. Dark chocolate was not restricted, and participants were allowed to drink wine in moderation. Some US researchers have cautioned that since the study was conducted in Spain, participants in all three diets were following some form of Mediterranean diet, which differs considerably from the average American diet, which tends to be rich in red meat, sweets, sugary sodas, and fast food.
Studies have also shown that the Mediterranean diet may have major implications in the battle against Alzheimer’s, a degenerative disease that robs its victims of cognitive abilities and destroys quality of life as it progresses. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s was the fifth-leading cause of death among people aged sixty-five and older in the United States in 2021, and close to 7 million Americans were living with the disease. Studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s and improve overall health among older populations.
Several meta-analyses have supported and furthered the claimed health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. In 2014, several studies linked the Mediterranean diet to a lowered risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as death from cancer. These studies were further bolstered in 2023, when new research found an even stronger link between the Mediterranean diet and lowered rates of type 2 diabetes. Scientists at the University of Cambridge discovered a 30 percent decrease in the risk of type 2 diabetes among people following a Mediterranean diet.
In 2020, a study was published that showed the potential benefits of the Mediterranean diet specifically for older people. This research, published in the gastroenterology and hepatology journal Gut, found that there was a connection between older adults adhering to the Mediterranean diet and a reduction in the loss of bacterial diversity in the digestive system's microbiome common with aging. This improvement meant a decrease in inflammatory chemicals responsible for reduced cognitive function. Additionally, as was found with other studies, it was believed to be beneficial for the prevention of certain diseases. Based on these results, it was further recommended that the diets of older adults be considered more carefully and that the Mediterranean diet be considered as an option to contribute to a healthier lifestyle during the aging process.
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