It REALLY works and it's delicious!
From ScienceDaily.com
Results
of the PREDIMED study, aimed at assessing the efficacy of the Mediterranean
diet in the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, have been published
in The New England Journal of Medicine. They show that the
Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or tree nuts
reduces by 30 percent the risk of suffering a cardiovascular death, a
myocardial infarction or a stroke.
The
research is part of the project PREDIMED, a multicentre trial carried out
between 2003 and 2011 to study the effects of the Mediterranean diet on the
primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
The
study was funded by the Carlos III Health Institute by means of the cooperative
research thematic network (RETIC RD06/0045) and the CIBER of Physiopathology of
Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn).
A
total of 7,447 people following major cardiovascular risk factors participated
in the study.
They were divided into three dietary intervention groups: a
Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean
diet supplemented with nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts), and a low-fat diet
(animal and vegetable).
A
dietician visited the patients every three months and they attended dietary
training group sessions, in which they received detailed information about the
Mediterranean and the low-fat diet, and the food included in each one.
Moreover, they were provided with shopping lists, menus and recipes adapted to
each type of diet and each season of the year.
During
the study, those participants who followed any of the two types of
Mediterranean diet received freely extra-virgin olive oil (one litre per week),
and nuts (30 grams per day; 15 grams of walnuts, 7.5 grams of almonds and 7.5
grams of hazelnuts).
After
five years, it has been proved that participants who followed any of the two
types of Mediterranean diet showed a substantial reduction in the risk of
suffering a cardiovascular death, a myocardial infarction or a stroke.
According
to the researchers, the results of PREDIMED study are relevant as they prove
that a high-vegetable fat diet is healthier at a cardiovascular level than a
low-fat diet. The authors state that the study has been controversial as it
provides new data to reject the idea that it is necessary to reduce fats in
order to improve cardiovascular health.
Hopefully,
these results will provide new references to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
In addition, the design and methodology used can be easily transferred to the
biomedical sector.
The
study had the collaboration of several researchers from the Hospital Clínic,
the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), the faculties of
Medicine of the universities Rovira i Virgili, Navarra, Valencia, Canary
Islands and Malaga, as well as the University Hospital Son Espases of Palma,
the Fats Institute in Seville, and the primary health care networks of
Barcelona, Seville, Tarragona and Valencia.
Story Source:
The
above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitat de Barcelona.
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Journal Reference:
1. Ramón Estruch, Emilio
Ros, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Maria-Isabel Covas, D.Pharm., Dolores Corella,
Fernando Arós, Enrique Gómez-Gracia, Valentina Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Miquel Fiol,
José Lapetra, Rosa Maria Lamuela-Raventos, Lluís Serra-Majem, Xavier Pintó,
Josep Basora, Miguel Angel Muñoz, José V. Sorlí, José Alfredo Martínez, Miguel
Angel Martínez-González. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
with a Mediterranean Diet.New England Journal of Medicine, 2013;
130225030008006 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1200303
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MLA
Universitat de Barcelona (2013, February 25). Mediterranean diet
helps cut risk of heart attack, stroke: Results of PREDIMED study
presented. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 26, 2013, from
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130225181536.htm
