Prevention is the key to much of what ails Americans today, and a change in diet--specifically the Mediterranean diet--is just the prevention needed for metabolic syndrome, a recent study indicates.
The American diet is not working. Obesity, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, and diabetes continue to skyrocket among the U.S. population. According to a new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the Mediterranean diet is beneficial in all of these areas.
An overall population of about 500,000 individuals was considered in the study, which analyzed the results of 50 previous studies of the Mediterranean diet. The study focused on the effects of the diet on metabolic syndrome, and concluded that the diet was effective in the range of areas desperately needing change in the American population’s eating habits.
Metabolic syndrome, the Mayo Clinic explains on its website, constitutes a variety of individual conditions—increased blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, body fat around the waist, abnormal cholesterol levels—that occur simultaneously, increasing one’s risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Having only one of the symptoms is not enough for a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, but each increases one’s risk factor of serious disease on its own.
“If you have metabolic syndrome or any of the components of metabolic syndrome, aggressive lifestyle changes can delay or even prevent the development of serious health problems,” MayoClinic.com states.
According to this recent study, the Mediterranean diet can be an “aggressive lifestyle change.”
The Mediterranean diet is characterized by the high consumption of monounsaturated fatty acids, much of it coming from olive and olive oils; daily servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals and low-fat dairy; weekly servings of fish, poultry, tree nuts and legumes; and limited servings of red meat. A moderate daily consumption of alcohol is permitted, mainly with meals. This diet, the study indicates, is associated with decreased mortality from all causes, and lower risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and some forms of cancer. The diet has positive effects on abdominal obesity, lipid levels, glucose metabolism and blood pressure levels.
"The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome is increasing rapidly throughout the world, in parallel with the increasing incidence of diabetes and obesity, and is now considered a major public health problem," said lead investigator Demosthenes Panagiotakos, Ph.D., associate professor in Biostatistics-Epidemiology of Nutrition, Department of Science of Dietetics - Nutrition, Harokopio University of Athens. "Additionally, the metabolic syndrome is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease (directly or indirectly), associated with personal and socio-economic burdens. As a result, prevention of this condition is of considerable importance."
A healthy diet, along with an active lifestyle, are cornerstones for the development of public health strategies for the prevention of metabolic syndrome, Dr. Panagiotakos indicated, not only in the United States, but in other nations around the world. And, the results support the idea that prevention is the best step to deal with the growing health issues in the United States. "Our results add to the existing knowledge, and further demonstrate the protective role and the significance that lifestyle factors, and mainly dietary habits, have when it comes to the development and progression of the metabolic syndrome."
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Image: Wikimedia Commons
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