The Mediterranean Diet and reduced cardiovascular disease

Extract

The Mediterranean diet (MD) may reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality, but who actually benefits from its benefits? 

Some cardiovascular advantages deriving from the MD were first proposed in the early 1960s by the pioneering studies of the American scientist Ancel Keys who first established an association between dietary behaviours and risk of coronary heart disease.^1,2

This eating pattern was typically consumed at that time among the populations bordering the Mediterranean Sea and was primarily characterized by a large intake of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, and cereals, a low-to-moderate intake of dairy products, low consumption of meat and poultry, a moderately high intake of fish, olive oil as a main source of fat and moderate alcohol (mainly wine) drinking during meals.^3,4

To date, a persuasive body of observational studies has documented the association of Mediterranean-like dietary patterns with a reduced incidence of CVD and mortality^5,6 along with lower rates of cancer,⁷ neurodegenerative diseases and all-cause mortality.^4,8 Benefits of a MD were documented both in a general population and in high-risk groups, such as people with diabetes, whose risk of dying from CVD causes was reportedly reduced by 30% for each 2-point increment in adherence to the MD score.⁹ In a sub-group of elderly subjects (n = 5162, aged ≥ 65 years) recruited within the Moli-sani project, a prospective cohort study on 25 000 citizens of Molise, a Southern Italian area, higher adherence to the traditional MD was associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality from all causes (Figure 1).

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