Our friends at ActitudFem.com tell us how the Mediterranean diet works for our health. For many years, we have known that the Mediterranean diet works… The women living in Italy, Greece, and other Mediterranean places eat a lot of pasta and still maintain enviable bodies and incredible metabolism. But this way of eating goes beyond that… If you combine it with nuts and use extra virgin olive oil, you reduce the likelihood of suffering from serious cardiovascular diseases by up to 30%, thus demonstrating one of the many benefits of the Mediterranean diet. The PREDIMED study, the largest on the Mediterranean diet, in which Borges Mediterranean Group participated, was developed by different research groups belonging to various Spanish universities and hospitals. It is a multicenter, randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted over 5 years. A total of 7,447 people participated in the study, aged between 55 and 80 years, of which 57% were women. All participants had a high risk of developing cardiovascular disease but had never had any type of prior cardiovascular accident in their history. Participants were randomly assigned to follow three diets: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil, a Mediterranean diet complemented with a mixture of nuts, and another low-fat diet. Participants periodically received educational sessions about their diet, both individually and in groups, and, depending on the group, free provisions of extra virgin olive oil or mixtures of nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts), or also small non-food gifts. During an average follow-up of 5 years, 288 participants suffered from a serious cardiovascular condition. Among those who followed the Mediterranean diet with olive oil, there were 96 cases; for those who followed the Mediterranean diet with mixed nuts, there were 83 cases, while this number rose to 109 cases among those who had followed the low-fat diet. This means that cardiovascular risk was reduced by 30% for those who consumed a supplement of mixed nuts and by 28% for those who consumed extra virgin olive oil. No weight gain or other adverse effects were recorded during the study. This study also confirms that the Mediterranean diet brings benefits to everyone who practices some sport, as well as high-performance athletes, since it provides adequate nutrition for training, recovery, and competitions in endurance sports like long-distance running and swimming. See the full article here.

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