Scientists have made a new conclusion about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet.
'01.08.2017'
Source: CNN
A Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but benefits only for highly educated people or with higher incomes.
This conclusion came Italian scientists, reports CNN.
They conducted a new study, the results of which were published on Monday in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The Mediterranean diet is all about eating plant-based foods, including vegetables, nuts, fruits and whole grains, in addition to fish and poultry. The diet also recommends that you limit red meat, substitute olive oil for butter, and exercise.
Maria Laura Bonacho, lead author of a new study and scientist IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed The Italian Institute for Clinical Research, wrote by e-mail that the same problem (when people with different income levels get different results from the same diet) may be in other diets.
Cause? She said that diets are “focused on quantity, not quality” of food.
For the study, Bonaccio and her co-authors randomly recruited more than 18 000 people living in the Molise region in southern Italy. The observation of participants lasted from March 2005 of the year to April of the 2010 year. Fund Pfizerwho helped fund the costs of the participants did not affect the analysis of the results, noted Bonaccio.
She and her team took into account the participant's total physical activity, body mass index (BMI), whether he smokes, and his medical history, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. Each participant’s data also included education, family income and marital status. Evaluating the Mediterranean diet, Bononcio and her colleagues considered the participants' food intake: a variety of fruits and vegetables, meat and fish.
Analyzing the data, the researchers found that the Mediterranean diet effectively reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, but only among a select group of participants: people with higher income or education.
Differences in food quality
Surprised by this result, scientists delved into the study and found that the reason for the differences in diversity and quality of products.
“For example, people with high socioeconomic status were more likely to eat fish,” Bonaccio said. They also ate organic and whole grain foods, she added. Accordingly, the products were bought more expensive and of better quality.
Are the results similar in the USA?
Mercedes Sotos-Prieto, assistant professor and visiting scholar in Harvard Chan School of Public Health, said that facts, including from her own research, show that the Mediterranean diet is "one of the best options for improving health."
She believes that a new study by Italian scientists only proves the link between income (or education) and health. “Previous studies have already shown a socioeconomic bias with regard to diet quality,” said Sotos-Prieto. A similar difference in the benefits of the Mediterranean diet based on socioeconomic status could occur in the United States, she said.
According to the authors of the study, people with high socioeconomic status can actually choose products that have more polyphenols (plant trace elements) and antioxidants (nutrients).
