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Author: Dr.Lejla Kažinić Kreho
Mediterranean diet – the healthiest diet in world |
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You think the men from this region of Europe who took part in the Seven Countries Study in the late fifties knew they were eating Mediterranean style?
Surely not, but this famous research showed that they had a lower rate of cardiovascular disease than the American and the Northern European men.
The research not only confirmed the importance of the healthy diet for our health, but also of maintaining a healthy body weight, which is related to the level of physical activity.
Since then, the concept of the Mediteranean diet has gained popularity and become extremely significant for the future generations.
What is really the Mediterranean diet?
It is a diet that incorporates numerous foods rich in plant fibers such as grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, seeds and olives.
MD, as it is internationally known, includes a moderate quantity of dairy products.
The chief source of fats is olive oil, and the main sweetener eco honey.
Unfortunately, a lot has changed since the fifties and the study that confirmed the importance of the Mediteranean diet.
When the study was carried out, the men from this part of Europe certainly did not have so many chemicals in the system as the men of the 21th century.
Important cultural feature
The Meditteranean diet is a significant cultural feature for the inhabitant of this region.
It doesn't require anything but a pure, natural and healthy food.
This medical and cultural aspect was the main reason why the traditional pyramid of the Mediterranean diet has been promoted since 1995.
It is becoming a way to prevent and treat various medical conditions and illnesses.
Since we're living in an era of many climate, social-cultural and health changes, and indeed of the new lifestyle of the inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries, the time has come to change the pyramid and create a new one.
The problem is that the Mediterranean diet has been losing important in the evolution and health of the Mediterranean people.
The reasons are the modern technology, food globalization, migration of the young into urban areas and the preference for fast, fat and refined food which wasn't typical for this region.
The scientists affiliated to the Mediterranean Diet Foundation’s International Scientific Committee together with a group of international scientists who gathered in Barcelona at the 7th International congress for the
Mediterranean diet are designing the final version of the new Mediterranean diet pyramid.
In order to protect the Mediterranean diet, UNESCO included it on the list of the non-material cultural heritage of the mankind.
How the Mediterranean diet influences health
I shall share with you some of the studies on the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, which I like to call the diet of civilization.
Protects the heart
A research published in August of 2011 took three months and covered 135 adults, 52 men and 83 women, all of whom had a moderate cardiovascular risk.
Some of them followed the principles of the Mediterranean diet, while others kept a low-fat diet created by the American Heart Association.
The results showed that those who observed the Mediterranean diet much more effectively reduced the postprandial lipaemia, a process that causes the fat to accumulate on the walls of the blood vessels, which is considered a proof of heart-protecting properties of the Mediterranean diet.
Italian and Greek scientists have concluded that the healthy Mediterranean diet can be used by all ethnic groups and that it prevents both the primary and the secondary risks of the metabolic syndrome.
Improves work efficiency
The Mediterranean diet is welcome in company restaurants.
In a 2009 Chilean research published in the British Public Health Nutrition magazine, Federico Leighton and his associates spent a year observing Maestranza Diesel employees.
After the employees were served this kind of diet in the restaurants, the results showed that their metabolic syndrome parameters were significantly reduced, while their work efficiency increased.
The conclusion: the Mediterranean diet is practical and effective even at work!
This research is important because it can encourage a change of menus in company restaurants and thus improve both the workers' health and the business efficiency of the companies involved.
Boosts sexuality
A 2006 Italian study proved that obesity and the metabolic syndrome are related to the erectile dysfunction.
Only two years after a lifestyle change that included the Mediterranean diet and exercise, a third of the participants were again sexually functional.
Reduces the risk of chronic illnesses and cancer
A 2011 study by Gil Ortega and Maldonado confirmed that the consumption of foods based on integral grains two or three times a day reduces the risk of cardiovascular illnesses by 20 to 30 percent and cuts the risk of diabetes type 2.
At the same time, whole grains and their products play a preventive role against colorectal cancer, polyps, hormonal cancers, pancreas cancers and other digestive system cancers.
Protects from breast cancer
Olive oil holds a central spot in the Mediterranean diet pyramid.
It is not surprising that we have an increasing amount of epidemiological and experimental proof that the Mediterranean diet, and especially extra-virgin olive oil, slow down the development of some cancers, notably breast cancer.
This is considered to be the result of the action of the monounsaturated fatty acids.
According to the latest Spanish study by Escrich, Moral & Solanas, a moderate consumption of extra-virgin olive oil seems like a healthy choice.
It reduces the incidence of breast cancer and when it has already been diagnosed, it improves the chances of recovery.
Prevents the metabolic syndrome
The metabolic syndrome is a potentially fatal condition to which the medical profession is not paying sufficient attention.
Elevated blood sugar levels, excess body weight, prominent abdominal fat, high blood pressure and cholesterol – all of these create the metabolic syndrome or the X syndrome.
It is not a disease, but a condition which includes several very risky health factors, and which many call the civilization syndrome.
It is closely related to various diseases and conditions – polycistic ovaries, fatty liver, gout, muscle and bone disease, and depression.
The Mediterranean diet has proven preventive against the metabolic syndrome and important in its treatment.
Counters climate changes
Today the Mediterranean diet is not only considered a healthy eating style, but also a healthy attitude towards the environment.
We have been hearing that the climate is changing at an ever increasing rate.
The climate change has become a political issue and a topic of numerous international gatherings.
However, the politicians are mostly concerned with the energy sector as a way to preserve the climate, ignoring the impact of agriculture and domestic animals on farms.
Forests are being destroyed in order to make room for soy and other crops grown as animal fodder. Forest destruction causes an increased CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
Today's concentration of this gas is the highest compared to its levels at any time in the past 650,000 years.
But if we were to reduce the meat consumption by 50 percent, it would mean less forest destruction and less methane and nitric oxide emission!
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