A recent study was good news for those wishing to lower their chances of developing heart disease (cardiovascular disease) without the use of medications. Instead, focus on the foods you eat, specifically those in a Mediterranean-style diet.
The Univ. of Sydney researchers did an analysis of 16 existing studies (with 722,495 women) and found that women following a Mediterranean diet lowered their odds of developing heart disease by 24% and lowered their risk of early death by 23%.
In this study, a Mediterranean diet meant eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, extra virgin olive oil. Moderate amounts of seafood, low to moderate in wine consumption, and low in red/processed meats, dairy products, animal fat, and processed foods.
Why is the Mediterranean diet beneficial? The diet focuses on whole foods that are also rich in fiber, antioxidants, has an increased intake of all sorts of nutrients (vitamins, minerals, flavanols, etc.), less oxidative stress, it's anti-inflammatory, reduced glycemic load, boosts the immune system, and feeds the beneficial microbes in our gut microbiome.
Interestingly, studies find that frequent consumption of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) lowers the risk of death from several diseases (heart disease, cancer, neurogenerative disease, and respiratory disease), lowers the incidence of breast cancer, and promotes healthier brain aging. A Mediterranean diet is associated with numerous health benefits (e.g., lower dementia risk) besides a lower heart disease risk.
These findings are important because heart disease is the leading cause of death globally, according to the World Health Organization. According to the CDC, it is the number 1 killer of women in the United States.
From Medical Xpress: Mediterranean diet cuts women's cardiovascular disease and death risk by nearly 25%, finds study
Sticking closely to a Mediterranean diet cuts a woman's risks of cardiovascular disease and death by nearly 25%, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence—the first of its kind—published online in the journal Heart.
Cardiovascular disease accounts for more than a third of all deaths in women around the world. While a healthy diet is a key plank of prevention, most relevant clinical trials have included relatively few women or haven't reported the results by sex, say the researchers, and current guidelines on how best to lower cardiovascular disease risk don't differentiate by sex.
To build on the evidence base to inform sex specific guidance and clinical practice, the researchers trawled research databases for studies looking at the potential impact of eating a Mediterranean diet on women's cardiovascular health and their risk of death.
The Mediterranean diet is rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and extra virgin olive oil; moderate in fish/shellfish; low to moderate in wine; and low in red/processed meats, dairy products, animal fat, and processed foods.
From an initial haul of 190 relevant studies, the researchers included 16 published between 2003 and 2021 in their pooled data analysis. The studies, which were mostly carried out in the US and Europe, involved more than 700,000 women aged 18 and above whose cardiovascular health was monitored for an average of 12.5 years.
The results of the analysis showed that sticking closely to a Mediterranean diet was associated with a 24% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 23% lower risk of death from any cause in women. The risk of coronary heart disease was 25% lower, while that of stroke was also lower, although not statistically significant, in those who most closely followed this diet compared with those who did so the least.
Excluding each of the studies one at a time from the analysis didn't materially affect the findings, "further supporting a strong inverse relationship for incident [cardiovascular disease] and total mortality with higher Mediterranean diet adherence in women," write the researchers.
They nevertheless acknowledge various limitations to their findings, including that all the studies analyzed were observational and relied on self-reported food frequency questionnaires. Additionally, adjustments for potentially influential factors varied across the included studies.
But the Mediterranean diet's antioxidant and gut microbiome effects on inflammation and cardiovascular risk factors are among the possible explanations for the observed associations, say the researchers.
And the diet's various components, such as polyphenols, nitrates, omega-3 fatty acids, increased fiber intake and reduced glycemic load, may all separately contribute to a better cardiovascular risk profile, they suggest.