A Mediterranean diet could reduce the risk of heart disease in women by 24 percent, according to a new study.
The study combined research on the Mediterranean diet, excluding data on women.
In the study, scientists added more points to those women who consumed more foods such as vegetables and fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seafood, and less red and processed meat.
Such a way of eating is associated with numerous health benefits, and a separate study recently conducted showed that later in life the risk of developing dementia is generally reduced in people who adhere to this way of eating.
In the latest study, the results of which were published in the journal Heart, scientists combined data from all previous studies conducted on women following a Mediterranean diet and linked them to the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death during the follow-up period.
Data were collected from earlier 16 studies that included more than 720,000 women, and the health of their cardiovascular system was monitored for an average of 12.5 years.
24 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and 23 percent of other causes
The team was led by scientists from the University of Sydney. They found that women who “disciplinedly followed” the Mediterranean diet were 24 percent less likely to develop cardiovascular disease.
They also found that this group of women was 23 percent less likely to die from any other cause during the follow-up period.
“We found that a Mediterranean diet was beneficial for women, with a 24 percent lower risk of CVD (cardiovascular disease) and a 23 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality,” the authors wrote.
Commenting on the study, British Heart Foundation Dietitian Victoria Taylor said: “It has long been known that a Mediterranean-style diet is good for heart health, and it is encouraging that research suggests that when women’s health is studied separately from men’s health, the benefits they remain”.
She noted that all 16 studies were observational, which means that they do not indicate a cause-and-effect relationship and that they mostly rely on data provided by the subjects themselves when it comes to food intake.
Regardless of gender, a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet such as the Mediterranean diet can contribute to reducing the risk of developing heart and cardiovascular disease, as well as risk factors for their occurrence, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
“It’s simple. Aim to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, fish, nuts and seeds, and some low-fat dairy products, and consume fats from unsaturated sources such as olive oil. It is also important to consume less meat products, to introduce less salt into the body and to reduce sweets to a minimum,” she explained.
Significantly lower risk of developing dementia
In a separate study on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, Newcastle University experts found that people who strictly adhered to such a diet had a 23 percent lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who did not adhere to it or adhered to it sporadically. In ten years of monitoring the health status of the respondents, 882 cases of dementia were recorded.
The conclusion is that consuming food of plant origin can have a “protective effect” against dementia, regardless of the individual’s genetic predisposition.
The results of the new study, published by scientists in the journal BMC Medicine, are based on data collected on more than 60,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, an online database of medical and lifestyle data on more than half a million Britons.
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