Mediterranean-style diet is an eating pattern, which includes lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, fish, has been shown to help shield people from heart disease and may also ward off certain cancers.
Eating a Mediterranean-style diet can help heart patients stay healthy.
Mediterranean-style diet is an eating pattern, which includes lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, vegetable oils, low-fat dairy products, legumes, whole grains, and fish, has been shown to help shield people from heart disease and may also ward off certain cancers. But less information is available on whether the Mediterranean diet might be helpful for people who already have heart disease.
To investigate, researchers looked at 1,000 patients from Greece who had suffered heart attacks or severe chest pain while at rest or with only light exertion. They rated each patient on a scale of 0 to 55 based on how closely their eating matched the Mediterranean ideal.
Nearly half of the patients experienced a second heart-related event within two years after their original hospital discharge. But patients with the most Mediterranean-style diets were at 31 percent lower risk of suffering another heart attack or experiencing chest pain during the first month after they were discharged from the hospital. They were only half as likely as those with the least Mediterranean eating habits to have another heart-related event within a year, and nearly 40 percent less likely to experience repeat heart problems within two years.
It was found that for every additional point on the 55-point Mediterranean Diet Score, a person's risk of having another heart-related event over the next two years fell by 12 percent. Patients with the most Mediterranean diets were also the least likely to experience reductions in the ability of the heart's main pumping chamber to work at full capacity, as well as harmful structural changes to the heart known as cardiac remodeling.
When the researchers looked at different components of the Mediterranean diet separately, they found that vegetables and salad and nuts were the only foods that cut risk; people who ate vegetables and salad or nuts daily or weekly were at 20 percent lower risk of repeat heart problems within two years of their initial hospitalization compared to people who ate these foods monthly or less often.
It was concluded that having a diet that contains the favorable characteristics of the Mediterranean diet helps reducing mortality and illness due to heart disease.
Mediterranean-style diet is an eating pattern, which includes lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, vegetable oils, low-fat dairy products, legumes, whole grains, and fish, has been shown to help shield people from heart disease and may also ward off certain cancers. But less information is available on whether the Mediterranean diet might be helpful for people who already have heart disease.
To investigate, researchers looked at 1,000 patients from Greece who had suffered heart attacks or severe chest pain while at rest or with only light exertion. They rated each patient on a scale of 0 to 55 based on how closely their eating matched the Mediterranean ideal.
Nearly half of the patients experienced a second heart-related event within two years after their original hospital discharge. But patients with the most Mediterranean-style diets were at 31 percent lower risk of suffering another heart attack or experiencing chest pain during the first month after they were discharged from the hospital. They were only half as likely as those with the least Mediterranean eating habits to have another heart-related event within a year, and nearly 40 percent less likely to experience repeat heart problems within two years.
It was found that for every additional point on the 55-point Mediterranean Diet Score, a person's risk of having another heart-related event over the next two years fell by 12 percent. Patients with the most Mediterranean diets were also the least likely to experience reductions in the ability of the heart's main pumping chamber to work at full capacity, as well as harmful structural changes to the heart known as cardiac remodeling.
When the researchers looked at different components of the Mediterranean diet separately, they found that vegetables and salad and nuts were the only foods that cut risk; people who ate vegetables and salad or nuts daily or weekly were at 20 percent lower risk of repeat heart problems within two years of their initial hospitalization compared to people who ate these foods monthly or less often.
It was concluded that having a diet that contains the favorable characteristics of the Mediterranean diet helps reducing mortality and illness due to heart disease.
DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.
