The Mediterranean Diet, its Components, and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

One of the best studied diets for cardiovascular health is the Mediterranean diet. This consists of fish, monounsaturated fats from olive oil, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes/nuts, and moderate alcohol consumption. The Mediterranean diet has been shown to reduce the burden, or even prevent the development, of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, depression, colorectal cancer, diabetes, obesity, asthma, erectile dysfunction, and cognitive decline. This diet is also known to improve surrogates of cardiovascular disease, such as waist-to-hip ratio, lipids, and markers of inflammation, as well as primary cardiovascular disease outcomes such as death and events in both observational and randomized controlled trial data. These enhancements easily rival those seen with more established tools used to fight cardiovascular disease such as aspirin, beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors, and exercise. However, it is unclear if the Mediterranean diet offers cardiovascular disease benefit from its individual constituents or in aggregate. Furthermore, the potential benefit of the Mediterranean diet or its components is not yet validated by concrete cardiovascular disease endpoints in randomized trials or observational studies. This review will focus on the effects of the whole and parts of the Mediterranean diet with regard to both population-based as well as experimental data highlighting cardiovascular disease morbidity or mortality and cardiovascular disease surrogates when hard outcomes are not available. Our synthesis will highlight the potential for the Mediterranean diet to act as a key player in cardiovascular disease prevention, and attempt to identify certain aspects of the diet which are particularly beneficial for cardio-protection.

Depression in cancer: The many biobehavioral pathways driving tumor progression

“…In fact, the most replicated clinical data informing on dietary recommendations for the prevention of depression indicates the benefits of increased consumption of fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole-grain cereals, nuts and seeds, fish rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids as well as the limitation of the intake of processed-foods, 'fast' foods and commercial bakery goods 168 . The following of traditional diets mainly composed with the above-mentioned healthy products, including the Mediterranean, Norwegian or Japanese diet, has been associated with decreased inflammation associated with cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome 169 . In addition, the Mediterranean diet has been associated with improvements in depressive symptoms as well 170 .…”

Gathering an edible wild plant: food or medicine? A case study on wild edibles and functional foods in Granada, Spain

“…400 BC), the concept of "food as medicine and medicine as food" has been followed and practiced among the different Western cultures. In the last few decades, several studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet can improve human health [1][2][3], particularly in relation to: a lower prevalence of cardiovascular disease [4][5][6][7][8][9], a possible effect on body weight and obesity regulation [10][11][12], a lower risk of type-2 diabetes mellitus [13][14][15], and to longevity improvement [2,16].…”

The Mediterranean Diet: Cardioprotective Effects in Different Countries

“…Она характеризу-ется обильным использованием оливкового масла, высоким уровнем потребления растительных продук-тов (фруктов, овощей, бобовых, круп, орехов и семян), частым, но умеренным приемом вина (особенно крас-ного) во время еды, умеренным потреблением рыбы, морепродуктов, молочных продуктов, птицы и яиц и низким содержанием красного мяса и сладостей [5].…”

“…Например, есть сви-детельства благоприятного воздействия средиземно-морской диеты на резистентность к инсулину и зависящую от эндотелия вазореактивность, а также антиоксидантное и противовоспалительное действие средиземноморской диеты и ее отдельных компонен-тов, таких как фрукты и овощи, оливковое масло, цельные зерна, рыба и красное вино [17]. Кроме того, средиземноморская диета была связана с положи-тельным эффектом на многие факторы риска ССЗ, включая липопротеины, ожирение, сахарный диабет и гипертонию [5,11,18].…”