Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet protects them from heart attacks, strokes, or premature deaths
Doctors have recommended that you should follow a Mediterranean diet as part of a heart-healthy lifestyle. But a new meta-analysis provides evidence that the Mediterranean diet can help women, in particular, reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease or premature death, according to Everyday Health.
The researchers extracted data on more than 720,000 participants in 16 previously published studies examining the relationship between heart disease and diet. The results of the study, published in the journal Heart, showed that women who closely followed a Mediterranean diet were 24% less likely to develop cardiovascular disease, and 23% less likely to die prematurely from any cause.
“There is no one-size-fits-all diet,” says Professor Sarah Zaman, an academic interventional cardiologist and associate professor at the University of Sydney in Australia and the study’s lead investigator, but there are key heart-friendly foods and nutrients that may make the Mediterranean diet particularly beneficial for helping reduce the risk of future cardiovascular events.
Dr. Zaman adds, “Diet plays a huge role in preventing cardiovascular disease and premature mortality. A poor diet is linked to several lifestyle risk factors for heart disease such as obesity, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes, all of which can increase significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.”
Mediterranean diet
Distinctive features of the Mediterranean diet include:
• Lots of whole fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains
• Nuts
• Healthy fats such as olive oil
• Regular consumption of fish and seafood
• Moderate consumption of dairy products such as cheese and yogurt
• Little or no consumption of red and processed meat
Eating a heart-healthy diet like this is especially important for postmenopausal women, when the risk of cardiovascular disease increases, says Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology and chair of the department of nutrition at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who was not involved in the study. .
“There is no one magic bullet for preventing cardiovascular disease,” says Professor Ho, but a few small changes to a plant-based diet can make a difference, true to the popular saying that “every little bit helps”, so people who don’t If they want to give up red meat or eat a mostly plant-based diet, they can still see heart-healthy benefits from making small changes to their eating habits, such as:
• Replacing animal fats with extra virgin olive oil.
• Eat wholegrain bread, pasta or rice instead of white bread or heavily processed grains.
• Drink tea, coffee or unsweetened water instead of sugary drinks.
• Eat more seafood and lean proteins instead of red and processed meats.
“While it may not be possible to make all of these changes overnight for most people, small, incremental changes over time can make a huge difference in improving diet quality and long-term cardiovascular health,” explains Professor Hu.
Maintaining a healthy heart
Professor Cheryl Anderson, Professor and Dean of the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciences at the University of California, San Diego, explains that in addition to the quality of foods and their health benefits, the amount of them eaten is also important for heart health even with a healthy eating pattern.
Professor Anderson, who was not involved in the study, explains that as with the Mediterranean diet, getting a healthy number of calories – not too many – is important for maintaining a healthy weight and getting the most health benefits.
More specifically, healthy eating can help people maintain a healthy weight and healthy levels of blood pressure, blood glucose and blood lipids, says Professor Anderson. [الكوليسترول]Additional pillars of a heart-healthy lifestyle include frequent physical activity, not smoking tobacco and getting optimal sleep.
1 comment
Great article! The benefits of following a Mediterranean diet are well-known, and this study highlights the positive impact it can have on women’s health. I’m curious, do you think the benefits of the diet apply to men as well, or are women more likely to see a reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease?
Eva Jenkins