By now, you\u2019ve probably heard all the buzz about the Mediterranean diet, or perhaps you\u2019ve tried it. Aside from helping to prevent the metabolic syndrome \u2014 a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes \u2014 a new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology<\/i> says the diet can have positive global effects on the individual risk factors: low HDL (\u201dgood\u201d) cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure and a high blood sugar rate, as seen by your doctor through a blood test. In addition, waist size is a risk factor \u2014 a waist more than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men is of concern.<\/p>\n
The syndrome is present when someone has three of those five risk factors.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The study is] one of the first studies that evaluated the role of Mediterranean diet on metabolic syndrome, and revealed a beneficial association- quite a big influence, taking into account that the Mediterranean diet is a non-pharmacological mean,\u201d said study author Demosthenes Panagiotakos, from the Department of Science of Dietetics-Nutrition at Harokopio University of Athens in Greece.<\/p>\n
The researchers looked at over half a million people from 50 previous studies on the Mediterranean diet, which included people in Spain, Greece, the U.S., France, Sweden, Italy and Australia, among other countries.<\/p>\n
They found the beneficial effects from diets rich in fruits and vegetables, olives and olive oil, low-fat dairy products and whole grain cereals. Other components included: a moderate daily intake of alcohol with meals- mostly from red wine; eating fish, poultry or tree nuts (like walnuts or cashews) weekly; and limiting eating red meat to about twice a month. The researchers say what\u2019s responsible are the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.<\/p>\n
Panagiotakos added that the diet includes all main food groups, but in a balanced way. The study notes physical activity is also an important part in preventing the risk factors for the metabolic syndrome.<\/p>\n
The Mediterranean diet isn\u2019t just a little extra olive oil, noted Dr. Robert Eckel, an endocrinologist and past president of the American Heart Association. \u201cIt\u2019s all these other components,\u201d Eckel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the health professional needs to recognize that people that meet the criteria for the metabolic syndrome are at higher risk [for heart disease and diabetes], and we strongly recommend that lifestyle intervention is used to prevent the syndrome and also to modify its prevalence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Panagiotakos concludes that this pattern of eating can be easily adopted by people of various cultures and populations. \u201cThe macro-environment we are living promotes obesity in all age groups of people\u2026the choice of a healthy diet, like the Mediterranean diet, is on our hands. Better eating (from childhood to older life) contributes to better quality of life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By now, you\u2019ve probably heard all the buzz about the Mediterranean diet, or perhaps you\u2019ve tried it. Aside from helping to prevent the metabolic syndrome \u2014 a cluster of risk factors for heart disease and diabetes \u2014 a new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology says the diet can have positive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"\n