A landmark study finds that the Mediterranean diet can help prevent ~30% of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease in people at risk compared to eating a low-fat diet.
You’ve seen the headlines. For years the Mediterranean diet’s olive oil, vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, and wine in moderation have been determined to be a winning combination for heart health.
The reason behind this recognition is that the Mediterranean style of eating swaps meat with mainly plant-based foods and replaces unhealthy fats with healthy fats. By doing so, you promote healthy cholesterol levels and remove the ingredients needed to deposit plaques in the arteries—key for heart disease development. The diet also limits sodium intake, decreasing the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Making these changes daily adds up. But have you ever wondered how big of a win switching to this diet really can be?
Study Details
Researchers set out to prove just that. They studied more than 7,000 people, who were 55-80 years old and had a high risk of heart disease, but with no specific conditions diagnosed as of yet. They designed the study as a randomized controlled trial—the gold standard of all study types.
Study participants were randomly assigned to one of three diet groups:
- A Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil
- A Mediterranean diet supplemented with mixed nuts
- A control diet (advice to reduce dietary fat)
The research was performed at multiple centers in Spain, and participants were followed on their assigned diets for five years.
Study Findings
The findings, which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed how good the Mediterranean diet is for heart health. To start, the incidence of any major heart disease-related events was lower for study participants assigned a Mediterranean diet versus those assigned to a reduced-fat diet.
More specifically, study participants who ate a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either extra-virgin olive oil or nuts reduced their incidence of having a major cardiovascular event. Such events are defined as having a myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes.
In fact, the study results showed that eating the Mediterranean diet lowered the risk of having a heart attack, stroke, or dying from heart disease by 30% compared to eating a typical low-fat diet.
Extra Perks
As if the heart-healthy benefits of eating the Mediterranean diet were not enough, this style of eating improves the health of your body in other ways. Additional health rewards include:
- Supporting a healthy body weight
- Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels
- Supporting a healthy balance of bacteria and other microorganisms in your gut
- Lowering your risk for some cancers
- Slowing the age-related decline in brain function
- Helping you live longer
Plant Forward
Now that you know that choosing to eat a Mediterranean diet is a game changer for your heart health, how can you make it a part of your life? On a day-to-day basis here’s what you should aim to be eating and how much according to the Cleveland Clinic:- At every meal: Fruits, whole grains, extra-virgin olive oil, and vegetables
- At least 3 servings per week: Nuts, legumes, and fish
- Have only 1 serving a day: Low-fat dairy, eggs, poultry
- Have only 1 serving per week: Sweets and red meat
How ALYKA Can Help
One of the biggest barriers to the Mediterranean diet is finding the knowledge you need to create daily meals and snacks. We remove that step entirely. Each one of ALYKA’s recipes is based on the Mediterranean Diet. Once you start your journey, you get several new recipes delivered to you each week. Download the app and cook up one of these easy-to-make, heart-healthy meals in your kitchen today!
