Mediterranean cuisine beats American Heart Association diet in controversial study Eating traditional Mediterranean cuisine like Greek salad, focaccia bread and garlic chicken may be better for your health than following the standard American Heart Association (AHA) diet, says a team of French researchers. It's a conclusion that the AHA calls flawed. Previous surveys have shown that people living around the Mediterranean Sea have less heart disease and cancer than people living in northern Europe and the United States. But those surveys didn't answer the critical question: Is it the diet, genes, exercise habits or something else? So researchers from the Saint-Etienne School of Medicine and two other institutions decided to find out if the difference could be traced to nutrition. They reported their results in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. For their study, they randomly divided 605 heart-attack survivors into two groups. One group worked with their own doctors to improve their health habits and followed a regimen close to the AHA Step One diet. That meant limiting fat to no more than 30 percent of their caloric intake and equally dividing the fat among saturated (animal fat, for the most part), monounsaturated (olive oils, for example) and polyunsaturated (corn oil, for example). The other group was invited to eat the way people traditionally have in Italy, North Africa and other countries ringing the Mediterranean. For them, the emphasis was less on cutting fat and more on choosing specific foods. They ate lots of fruits, vegetables, grains and fish. Wine and meat were allowed in moderation. Butter and cream were forbidden; instead, they used olive and canola oils. During the next four years, the differences in the two groups were striking. In the group dining a la Mediterranean, 14 died. The death toll in the AHA group was 24. The Mediterranean food eaters had less than half as many cancers and one-third the number of heart attacks as the AHA group. The Mediterranean diet might work better for two reasons, the researchers suggest. First, people were more likely to stick to the diet. It's easier to follow a diet that invites you to eat stuffed grape leaves than one that warns you to limit your fat intake. Second, the Mediterranean dieters ate different types of fat than the AHA group did: less saturated and polyunsaturated fats, and more monounsaturated fats. The diet was particularly high in omega-3 fatty acids, a type of compound found in fish, olive oil and canola oil. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to lower heart disease and cancer rates in laboratory animals. The researchers concluded that anyone at high risk for heart disease should adopt a Mediterranean diet. AHA calls study poorly monitored But is eating this way really better than following the guidelines of the AHA? "You can't draw those conclusions based on this study," says Alice H. Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutritionist and AHA spokesperson. First, she says, the study wasn't really a head-to-head comparison of the two diets. The patients following the Mediterranean diet worked closely with the researchers; the others were left to the care of a variety of physicians who weren't participating in the study directly and may not have abided by the AHA recommendations. Second, the AHA would normally recommend a lower amount of saturated fat than this control group ate, Lichtenstein says. Finally, the association doesn't recommend a Mediterranean diet for fear people will get carried away and slather olive oil on everything, getting chubby in the process. Obesity increases cancer and heart-disease risks. Whether the French study proves the Mediterranean diet superior to the AHA Step One diet remains a matter of debate. But numerous other studies have reported significant benefits from the Mediterranean diet. They range from reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis to lower mortality rates from coronary heart disease. A recent study found that men with slightly higher-than-normal blood pressure were much more likely to die of coronary heart disease if they lived in the United States and northern Europe, rather than Mediterranean southern Europe. That multi-nation study was coordinated by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, and was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. And while genetics may explain some of the discrepancies in the mortality rates, eating habits -- like those promoted by the Mediterranean diet -- play a key role, the report says. By Laird Harrison and Janice Billingsley HealthSCOUT Reporters Euro J Cancer Prevention, 8/04 Role of Antioxidants in Med Diets: Focus on Ca Wine or Food? May Differ w/Beverage Choices Intl J for Vitamin & Nutrition Research, 2001 J Nutrition, 11/01 Medit/Greek Diet in Australia:Major Carotenoids Retinol/Tocopherol in Greek Plant Foods Mediterranean Diet & Survival:Greek Population Jerusalem Post The Lance, 11/02 Mediterranean Diet, Lifestyle Factors & Mortality: Elderly Euro J Clin Nutr, 12/02 UPI, 6/27/03 Int J Food Sci Nutr, 1/03 J Nutrition, 2002 Olive Oil Diet in Rats & Offspring Olive Oil as Functional Food Olive Oil Olive Oil Could Contain Defects Refined Olive Oil Loses Antioxidants Olive Oil & Phenols Prevent Inflammation (Ovariectomised Rats) Type of Oil Matters-Corn Oil vs Olive Oil -Rats w/Cancer Olives/Olive Oil & Cancer Prevention Sources for Organic Olive Oil Olive Oil Cuts Levels of Her-2/neu Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. 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