Saturday, August 29, 2009

Proper Foods Keep Disease At Bay

By Dr. Lorna Mistranski

Research has shown that a traditional Mediterranean diet provides assistance in protecting the body from type 2 diabetes.

The composites of what make the Mediterranean diet so perfect against type 2 is it is robust in olive oil, grains, nuts vegetables, and fish yet it is low in meat, alcohol, and dairy products.

The current studies are showing that the body has a positive effect in regards to cardiovascular disease when a diet such as the one explained is implemented.

Researchers gathered 13,000 graduates from the University of Navarra in Spain with no history of diabetes and recruited between December 1999 and November 2007; each graduate had their dietary habits and health were subsequently tracked.

The subjects started the study off by answering a questionnaire that was designed to gauge their overall dietary habits. The 136 questions that were given to the participants, specific questions were asked on how they cooked their foods, what types of oils they used, and dietary products they used.

The 13,000 participants were tracked by a questionnaire that was administered every two years and asked questions about thier lifestyle, eating habits, and overall medical conditions. From this, researchers were able to pick up new cases of diabetes.

The average follow up period turned out to be 4 years and researchers found that the subjects who stuck closely to the diet had a lower risk of diabetes. The diet was associated with an 83% relative reduction in the risk of developing diabetes.

Interestingly, those participants who stuck strictly to the diet were expected to have the highest prevalence of risk factors for diabetes such as they got older with age, a family history of diabetes, and a higher proportion of ex-smokers.

This did not happen. In fact the participants had a lower risk of diabetes which suggested that the diet might provide substantial protection.

The primary compounds of the diet include a high intake of fiber, vegetable fat, trans fatty acids, and a moderate intake of alcohol.

In addition, a key element of the diet is the abundant use of virgin oil for cooking, frying, spreading on bread, and dressing salads.

The authors conclude by calling for larger participants and trials to confirm their findings.

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