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The Mediterranean Diet is rich in breads, pastas, vegetables, fruit and legumes. |
EATING MORE FRUITS, vegetables, olive oil and perhaps moderate amounts of red wine can reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease, while eating lots of white bread, hot dogs and sodas may raise your risk of these diseases.
This news comes from two separate studies reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this month. Although researchers looked at people oceans apart, in America and in Greece, both studies looked at eating and included blood tests for signs of inflammation.
It is believed that low-level inflammation of blood vessels and tissues can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, even though the inflammation is so slight that it doesn't cause pain or other symptoms.
In one study, scientists from Harvard and from the German Institute of Human Nutrition analyzed information from the first and second Nurses Health Studies, which tracked about 90,000 nurses. They found that nurses who drank lots of sodas and ate lots of refined grains and processed meats, and who avoided wine, coffee, cruciferous vegetables and yellow vegetables, were about three times more likely to develop diabetes than those who ate well.
In case you're wondering, the cruciferous family of vegetables includes cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, radishes, turnips and other relatives.
Women who ate processed foods and shunned these vegetables showed high levels of inflammation in five separate blood tests, the most familiar of which is C-reactive protein. Women who ate more processed foods and spurned vegetables had 50 percent higher levels of C-reactive protein.
This was true even when the scientists made extra calculations to correct for other things that increase inflammation, such as high body mass index, physical activity, smoking, family history of diabetes, and high blood pressure.
The researchers concluded that processed foods are causing inflammation, contributing to diabetes.
Another study looked at a Western diet versus the traditional, unprocessed foods of the Mediterranean. The study of 3,000 men and women in Attica, Greece, found that those who ate traditional Mediterranean foods had 11 percent more antioxidants in their blood than those who ate a Western or American-style diet.
That showed the Mediterranean style was healthier, because high "total antioxidant capacity," nicknamed TAC, reduces risks of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Those with the highest TAC scores ate more fruits, vegetables and olive oil and less red meat.
The Greeks who ate traditional Mediterranean foods also had 19 percent lower oxidized LDL-cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, as well as lower triglycerides and blood pressure. They tended to be older and better educated than those eating Western foods.
The traditional Mediterranean diet includes:
Daily consumption of unrefined grains such as whole-wheat bread and pasta and brown rice.
Four to six servings of fruit daily and two to three servings of vegetables daily.
Olive oil as the main added fat.
Four to six servings per week of each of fish, poultry, potatoes, nuts and olives.
One to three servings per week of eggs and sweets.
One or two servings of red meat per month.
One to two glasses of wine daily.
The Mediterranean diet overall is moderate in fat, and most of the fat is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat such as olive oil--in contrast with Western consumption of saturated fat that comes from meat and full-fat dairy products.
The American and Greek studies suggest it's important to eat more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, such as olive oil.
This is very different from what many American consider healthy. Instead of buying unprocessed foods, many buy highly processed foods advertised as healthy, such as gummy fruit snacks and diet sodas.
Rather than buying these imitation foods, perhaps it's better to try new foods. For example, instead of regular and diet sodas, people might try coffee or tea with low-fat milk, or drink low-fat milk or water with a slice of lemon or lime. All those drinks have more antioxidants and, some say, better flavor, than diet sodas.
Gummy fruit snacks are no substitute for whole fruit, even if they contain small amounts of juice. Whole fruits contain fiber and more antioxidants than any processed gummy snack, and they come in so many more varieties: plums, peaches, apricots, red and green apples, pears, nectarines, bananas and red and green grapes are all in season and relatively inexpensive now.
For ideas on less processed foods and Mediterranean-style dishes to try, contact the Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust, a Boston nonprofit group that developed a Mediterranean Diet Pyramid and recipes. Reach the group at 617/421-5500 or online at oldwayspt.org.
If you like cooking, I recommend Sarah Woodward's "The Classic Mediterranean Cookbook." It doesn't have any nutrition information in it, but the recipes are authentic and delicious, and end up being healthy, too.
JENNIFER MOTL, a registered dietitian, welcomes reader questions via her Web site, brighteating.com, or mailed to Nutrition, The Free Lance-Star, 616 Amelia St., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.
