Mediterranean diet reduces risk of heart attack, stroke

oston, MA - A new analysis of data from the Nurses' Health Study has shown that women whose diets most closely resemble a traditional Mediterranean diet are significantly less likely to develop heart disease and stroke [1].

Lead researcher Dr Teresa T Fung (Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA) told heartwire that many other studies have looked at the effects of this diet on cardiovascular mortality, but this is one of few with enough participants to look at nonfatal events and also is the first to examine stroke as a separate outcome. Fung and colleagues report their findings online February 16, 2009 in Circulation.

"What this adds to the existing literature is that it shows a reduced risk of nonfatal events as well," she notes. "My take on this is that all the data from different studies with different types of dietary patterns are pointing in the same kind of direction: a minimally processed, mostly plant-based diet, with an abundance—not just in terms of quantity but in terms of variety—of different plant foods and fish. I will single out fish because we included fish in our score. Oily fish seem to have a very strong relation in terms of being beneficial."

29% reduced risk of MI, 13% reduction in stroke risk