Study Finds Benefits in Mediterranean Way of Eating

Reader Contribution by Eleni Roumeliotou and Primal Baby
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PREDIMED is a Spanish study (recruited almost 7,500 high-risk participants) that was designed to assess two variations of the Mediterranean diet, based either in extra virgin olive oil or nuts.

These two types of Mediterranean diet were compared to a low-fat diet, which is the standard recommendation for people at high risk for cardiovascular disease. The main targets of the study were to find out how many of the participants would suffer from serious cardiovascular conditions (stroke, myocardial infraction, hypertension etc) or develop diabetes (metabolic syndrome) during the study.

Essentially, the study wanted to find out whether Mediterranean diet can actually prevent any of these conditions. Participants were advised to not reduce their calories in any way or increase physical activity. The only requirements were the consumption of extra-virgin olive oil or mixed nuts (both supplied on a weekly basis) or reducing dietary fats respectively.

Benefits of Mediterranean Eating

Based on previously published data, the study was designed to last for 6 years. From a statistical point of view, that amount of time would be sufficient to show whether Mediterranean diet had indeed any preventive value. The results quickly showed that participants eating a Mediterranean diet enjoyed superior health benefits, which the participants in the low-fat group were increasingly missing out.

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