Mediterranean-Style Diet Contributes to Longer Life

For people of all ages, it’s been proven that a diet similar to what’s popular around the Mediterranean helps with fending off negative health issues. Now, new research points out that even people in they “mid-life” can benefit greatly by eating a more Mediterranean-stlye diet.

“In summary, we found that greater quality of diet at midlife was strongly associated with increased odds of good health and well-being among individuals surviving to older ages,” epidemiologist Cécilia Samieri of the French National Institute of Health and her co-authors concluded in Monday’s online Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Maintaining physical, cognitive, and mental health with aging may provide a more powerful incentive for dietary change than simply prolonging life or avoiding any single chronic disease.”

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Mediterranean Diet Good for Your Heart

The Mediterranean diet is delicious and good for your heart! The researchers wanted to look at what kind of foods that we should be eating a lot of. Hint: it’s not hot dogs.

The review, which appears in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine, analyzed nearly 200 studies involving millions of people published between 1950 and June 2007.

The Mediterranean diet involves high consumption of:

Vegetables.
Legumes.
Fruits.
Nuts that are not roasted or salted.
Cheese or yogurt.
Whole grains.
Fish.
Monounsaturated fats such as olive oil and avocados.
The research also confirmed that trans-fatty acids are associated with an increased risk of heart disease.

Starchy carbs such as white bread, white rice and white potatoes that are high on the glycemic index were also linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Eat Like a Greek and Remember

A Mediterranean diet can help to fend off Alzheimer’s, according to a well-researched study. The diet is low in red meat and high in oils and lots of fruits and vegetables.

“In accordance with our previous results,” the authors wrote,” the associations between Mediterranean diet and Alzheimer’s disease remain unchanged and significant even when simultaneously adjusting for the most commonly considered potential confounders for Alzheimer’s disease, such as age, sex, ethnicity, education, APOE genotype, caloric intake, and BMI. Higher adherence to Mediterranean diet reduced risk for probable Alzheimer’s disease either with or without coexisting stroke.”

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