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Learn More About the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid
Much of the Mediterranean food and cooking found today can be traced back to times of antiquity. The area that compromises
the Mediterranean consists of three continents and more than 15 countries. Some of the countries that influence the Mediterranean
diet are: Portugal, southern Spain, southern France, southern Italy, Greece, Crete, southern Turkey, western Syria, western
Lebanon, western Israel, northern Eygpt, northern Libya, northern Algeria and northern Morocco. It was on the shores of the
Mediterranean that Western Civilization had its beginnings. The olive vine, wheat, seafood, and meats were enhanced by Arab
spices from the East. The Arabs were said to have the greatest influence on the Mediterranean Diet, bringing nuts, saffron,
rice, spinach, sugar cane, and oranges into the region.
Read more news reports about the Mediterranean diet here
What is the "Mediterranean" diet?
There's no one "Mediterranean" diet. At least 16 countries border the Mediterranean Sea. Diets vary between these countries
and also between regions within a country. Many differences in culture, ethnic background, religion, economy and agricultural
production result in different diets. But the common Mediterranean dietary pattern has these characteristics:
- high consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds
- olive oil is an important monounsaturated fat source
- dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to moderate amounts, and little red meat is eaten
- eggs are consumed zero to four times a week
- wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts
Does a Mediterranean-style diet follow American Heart Association dietary guidelines?
Mediterranean-style diets are often close to our dietary guidelines, but they don’t follow them exactly. In general,
the diets of Mediterranean peoples contain a relatively high percentage of calories from fat. This is thought to contribute
to the increasing obesity in these countries, which is becoming a concern.
People who follow the average Mediterranean diet eat less saturated fat than those who eat the average American diet.
In fact, saturated fat consumption is well within our dietary guidelines.
More than half the fat calories in a Mediterranean diet come from monounsaturated fats (mainly from olive oil). Monounsaturated
fat doesn't raise blood cholesterol levels the way saturated fat does.
The incidence of heart disease in Mediterranean countries is lower than in the United States. Death rates are lower, too.
(courtesy, American Heart Association)
Read more medical discussions of the diet here.
Check out Clifford Wright's approach to Mediterranean cuisine
| Mediterranean Diet May Defend Against Alzheimer's, Study Says
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- The arsenal against Alzheimer's may get a pleasurable addition, a Mediterranean
diet chock full of fish, olive oil, grains, fresh produce and moderate amounts of wine, a study suggested.
Investigators who studied 2,258 New Yorkers found that those who followed the diet most closely were
significantly less likely to develop Alzheimer's over the four-year follow-up, according to results in this month's Annals
of Neurology.
Compared with people who followed the plan loosely, those who were most faithful to the diet, with
low amounts of dairy products, saturated fats, meat and poultry, were about 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's,
the study showed. The diet already has been associated with a lower risk of cancer, heart disease and premature death, and
elements of it showed promise against Alzheimer's in previous research, investigators said.
``The effect could be mediated by a vascular mechanism because this diet has been related to lower
risk of a series of cardiovascular diseases and conditions, said Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia
University Medical Center in New York, said in an interview yesterday. The effects may also be due to the effects of antioxidants
or reduced inflammation, he said.
Studies have shown that eating certain foods and supplements, such as fish and folic acid, may lower
the risk of Alzheimer's or slow its progression, the researchers said. The investigation looked at peoples' existing diets,
and compared eating habits to the Mediterranean diet.
``An overall dietary pattern is likely to have a greater effect on health than a single nutrient,''
the researchers said.
Diets
Investigators studied the diets of 2,258 people in northern Manhattan who didn't have dementia when
they enrolled, in the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project. During the research, which used questionnaires on
eating habits, 262 of the participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a brain disorder that affects thought, memory
and language.
The middle group, which had a less strict Mediterranean diet, had about a 20 percent reduction in Alzheimer's
risk compared with the group whose diets were least like the comparison diet, the study showed.
While there are treatments such as Pfizer Inc.'s and Eisai Co.'s Aricept, there is no cure for the
illness, which affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans, according to the Web site of the National Institute on Aging.
The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging, the Charles
S. Robertson Memorial Gift for Research in Alzheimer's disease, the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Foundation, the New York
City Council Speaker's Fund for Public Health Research and the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the
Aging Brain.
``I've been eating this diet since I was born. I didn't eat it because it was beneficial,'' said Scarmeas,
referring to a Greek diet. ``That's what my mother always used to cook.'' |
To contact the reporter on this story:
Theresa Barry in Washington at Tbarry2@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: April 18, 2006 00:04 EDT
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