Mediterranean diet boosts heart health: study
The Mediterranean diet earns yet another nod of approval from researchers for its heart-healthy benefits. A new Spanish study finds that eating a diet rich in olive oil, nuts, fruits and vegetables along with wine can reduce your risk for cardiovascular problems.
Researchers from Universidad de Navarra followed 7,447 people at risk for cardiovascular disease over a period of about five years. Results showed that subjects who ate a Mediterranean diet had a 30 percent greater reduction in the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular disease than those who ate a low-fat diet.
Subjects following the Mediterranean diet were instructed to consume at least four tablespoons of olive oil a day, as well as eat about an ounce (a large handful) of a mix of walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts. Participants also ate at least three servings of fruits and two servings of vegetables a day, plus fish at least three times a week. For those who drank, they had at least seven glasses of wine a week with meals.
The new findings are published online February 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine: nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303.
