The Mediterranean Diet
(part 3)
There has been some concern that although a Mediterranean diet might be good for your heart, it appears to lead to weight gain and obesity. (And we know that being overweight is NOT good for your heart!) Specifically, surveys done in the European Union indicate that those who most closely adhere to a Mediterranean diet (the Greek population) have a high prevalence of overweight and obesity.
A study published last year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition seems to show that a Mediterranean diet does not, in and of itself, lead to weight gain and obesity.
The study included 23,597 male and female volunteers between the ages of 20 and 86 who were recruited to participate in a much larger European study to investigate cancer and nutrition. Subjects who had coronary artery disease, cancer, or diabetes were excluded.
For the study itself, each volunteer was weighed and their height measured so that their Body Mass Index (BMI) could be calculated. Their waist and hip circumferences were also measured and their Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) was calculated. Finally, each volunteer answered a detailed food questionnaire regarding their dietary intake over the past year, which allowed the researchers to assign each volunteer's adherence to the Mediterranean diet on a scale of 0 to 9, with 9 being the highest level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Researchers also collected information on the subjects' level of education, whether they smoked and if so, how much, their level of physical activity, and their average caloric intake, among others.
The results? The researchers found that:
BMI Increased: |
BMI Decreased: |
|
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What they did NOT find, however, is any indication that a high level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet actually caused the subjects' BMI to increase. Even when the researchers did not take caloric intake levels into account, they found that a higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet only increased BMI by 0.21 among men and 0.05 among women. They found similar results for Waist-Hip Ratio, as well.
The high level of obesity in Greece? Most likely had more to do with low levels of exercise and overeating than with what type of diet people were following.
The take-home messages are twofold. First, no diet, even a heart-healthy style of eating like the Mediterranean diet, is a magic bullet. You can eat lots of food that is good for you and still risk your health by being overweight. Moderation in eating is key. Second, exercise is critical to low BMI and overall health. You can improve your health by improving your diet, but the only way to be slim AND healthy (because you can be slim and UNhealthy) is to eat right and exercise.
Research Articles - The Mediterranean Diet
Macronutrients vs. Overall Diet: Which is More Important?
It’s an axiom among dietitians that “people eat food, not macronutrients.” That’s one of the reasons that we find fad diets to be so silly: so many of them demonize entire classes of foods (“all oils are bad,” “avoid all carbohydrates,” “don’t eat animal products”). While there are those who may find these diets work for them, the vast majority of people can’t live with those diets for the long term. The good news…
Mediterranean Diet Good for More Than Your Physical Health
If you’ve been following us for a while you know that following a Mediterranean-style Diet can help reduce your risk of many chronic diseases, from heart disease to cancer, and help you manage or improve such conditions as diabetes and poor cholesterol scores. We also know that it may help reduce your risk of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. Other studies have indicated that your diet may have an effect…
Mediterranean Diet and Alzheimer’s Disease
Being able to reproduce the results of a study is key to verifying any conclusions drawn from research. A number of years ago a group of scientists claimed to have mastered “Cold Fusion,” but in followup experiments no one has been able to reproduce such an effect. Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and his colleagues published a study this year on a group of elderly subjects that indicated eating a Mediterranean style diet resulted in a…
Mediterranean Diet and Breast Cancer Risk
In the past we’ve reported on the links (or lack thereof) between soy and breast cancer (good for breast cancer survivors [Bite 12/09/09], may help reduce overall risk [Bite 08/27/08]), calcium supplements and breast cancer (makes no difference [Bite 02/11/09]), red meat (may increase risk [Bite 11/15/06]), and grapefruit (does not increase risk [Bite 07/23/08]). We know that following a Mediterranean style diet is linked with lower incidence of heart disease, high blood pressure,…
Mediterranean Diet and Esophageal Cancer
Less than 10% of those in Iran who are diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma survive for 5 years or more past diagnosis. (By way of comparison, 84% of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK survive 5 years or more.) Esophageal cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world and fourth most common in developing countries. It is even more common in what is known as the “esophageal cancer belt,”…
Mediterranean Diet and Quality of Life
We know that following a Mediterranean style diet can help prevent a number of chronic diseases and conditions – from improving insulin levels and cholesterol scores to preventing heart attack and stroke. But health is more than just lack of disease – it’s also about quality of life. It might sound pretty hard to quantify one’s quality of life, but researchers at the RAND Corporation have taken a stab at it by developing what…
Mediterranean Diet Basics
The basics of the Mediterranean diet can be broken into 9 important areas of change for your health:
1. Vegetables
No. 1 - Vegetables This one’s pretty easy. It’s pretty much impossible to eat too many vegetables. Keep in mind…
2. Legumes
No. 2 - Legumes As with the wide variety of cabbages you can find in the market, there are lots…
3. Fruits & Nuts
No. 3 - Fruits and Nuts Fruit is the perfect snack. Sweet and satisfying, it’s important to keep your fridge…
4. Cereal Grains
No. 4 - Cereals and Grains Whole grains are really good for you. If you are used to "white" starches…
5. Fish
No. 5 - Fish More fish, less meat. Simple. A lot of people say that they don’t like fish. However,…
6. Oils
No. 6 - Oils and Fats In most studies on the Mediterranean Diet this is generally classified as olive oil.…
7. Dairy Products
No. 7 - Dairy The traditional Mediterranean diet doesn’t have dairy products as a major focus. When dairy is part…
8. Meats
No. 8 - Meats Less meat and lean meats. The median consumption was about 4 ounces of meat per day.…
9. Alcohol
No. 9 - Alcohol There is good evidence that moderate use of alcohol is good for you and this research…