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Mediterranean Diet Plus Nuts is Extra Healthy Thursday, January 8, 2009 Around the globe, diets are as varied between countries as the differences in culture, ethnic background, religion, economy and agricultural production. Diets also vary between regions within a country. For instance, the northern provinces of China tend toward a diet containing spicier foods, more meat and wheat, where the southern provinces consume a milder diet with more rice, greens and other vegetables, special fruits and generally less meat. However, there is one diet that has been studied extensively over the past several years, and found to have numerous health benefits: the “Mediterranean” diet. Its documented benefits range from relatively minor, such as a lowered incidence of asthma and allergies in children, to perhaps the most important benefit of all: a longer life. Now, Spanish researchers have found that adding nuts to a traditional Mediterranean diet provides an extra health benefit—a lowered risk of metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by a group of health problems that includes abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and glucose intolerance, all of which are risk factors of coronary heart disease and other diseases related to plaque buildups in artery walls, as well as type 2 diabetes. Metabolic syndrome has become increasingly common in the United States; an estimated 50 million Americans have it.
The new PREDIMED (Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea) study included 1,224 Spaniards, aged 55 to 80, who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease, with 61.4 percent meeting the criteria for metabolic syndrome. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control group that received advice on a low-fat diet, a Mediterranean diet group that received one liter of virgin olive oil per week, and a Mediterranean diet group that received 30 grams of mixed nuts per day. None were asked to increase their physical activity.
While there were no weight changes in any of the groups over a one year period, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome decreased by 2 percent in the low-fat diet group, 6.7 percent in the olive oil group, and 13.7 percent in the mixed nut group. The number of participants with large waist circumference, high triglycerides or high blood pressure also significantly decreased in the Mediterranean diet plus nuts group compared with the control group. These findings suggest that components of the diet, primarily the nuts, may have beneficial effects on certain features of metabolic syndrome, such as oxygen-related cell damage, insulin resistance and chronic inflammation. Nuts contain beneficial nutrients such as fiber, arginine, potassium, calcium and magnesium, as well as a high level of unsaturated fats similar to olive oil, the researchers noted. “Traditionally, dietary patterns recommended for health have been low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets, which generally are not palatable. The results of the present study show that a non-energy-restricted traditional Mediterranean diet enriched with nuts, which is high in fat, high in unsaturated fat and palatable, is a useful tool in managing the metabolic syndrome,” concluded Dr. Jordi Salas-Salvado, of the University of Rovira i Virgili, and colleagues. The researchers noted that a longer follow up of the PREDIMED study may show stronger evidence on the cardiovascular benefits of such a diet.
Salas-Salvado and another co-author disclosed in the publication that they are unpaid advisers to nut industry groups, but said all of their research was “conducted under standard ethical and scientific rules” and that the study results were not influenced by food industry ties.
A typical Mediterranean meal includes generous amounts of fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, pasta, cereals, nuts, seeds and olive oil, with lesser amounts of poultry, eggs, and dairy, and very little red meat. A glass of wine is almost always served with lunch or dinner. The Mediterranean diet also emphasizes minimally processed, fresh, and preferably local foods. The total fat in this diet is 25 to 35 percent of calories. Actually, the dietary guidelines recommended by the American Heart Association are very similar to that of the Mediterranean diet.
The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health and the government of Valencia, Spain and was published in the December 8 journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
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