FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) -- Adhering to the so-called
Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fruits and vegetables and low
in animal products, may protect you against developing type 2
diabetes, a Spanish study suggests.
A Mediterranean diet is often recommended as a way to guard
against cardiovascular disease, but whether it protects against
diabetes hasn't been established. The diet emphasizes olive oil,
vegetables, fruits, nuts, cereals, legumes and fish, and
deemphasizes meat and dairy products.
"The Mediterranean diet is a healthful eating plan that seems to
help in the prevention of heart disease," said Connie Diekman,
director of university nutrition at Washington University in St.
Louis, who was not involved with the study. "Consumption of the
Mediterranean diet will support health and may aid in the
prevention of several diseases," she added.
For the study, published online May 30 in the
British Medical Journal, researchers tracked the diets of
13,380 Spanish university graduates with no history of diabetes.
Participants filled out a 136-item food questionnaire, which
measured their entire diet (including their intake of fats), their
cooking methods and their use of dietary supplements.
During an average of 4.4 years of follow-up, the team found that
people who adhered to a Mediterranean diet had a lower risk of
developing type 2 diabetes. In fact, those who stuck very closely
to the diet reduced their risk by 83 percent.
Moreover, the people who tended to stick closest to the diet
were those with factors that put them at the highest risk for
developing diabetes, such as being older, having a family history
of diabetes and being an ex-smoker. These people were expected to
have a higher rate of diabetes, but when they adhered to the
Mediterranean diet this was not the case, the researchers
noted.
Type 2 diabetes is typically brought on by poor eating habits,
too much weight and too little exercise.
The researchers suggested that one key factor that might be
responsible for the protective effect of the Mediterranean diet is
its emphasis on olive oil for cooking, frying, putting on bread and
mixing in salad dressings.
"Our prospective cohort study suggests that substantial
protection against diabetes can be obtained with the traditional
Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, vegetables, fruits, nuts,
cereals, legumes, and fish but relatively low in meat and dairy
products," the researchers concluded.
Diekman said the study does have some limitations. "The use of
food-frequency questionnaires is a limitation to actual intake,
since most people don't know their real eating patterns and tend to
'guess' rather than provide real data," she said.
The low number of cases of diabetes identified in the study is
another concern because typical demographic trends would suggest a
higher number, she said.
"Finally, since the study is observational, it is hard to
determine if other factors may have had an impact," Diekman said.
"Self-reporting of study factors always compounds outcomes."
Still, another nutrition expert said the findings seem to
confirm the benefits of a Mediterranean diet for overall
health.
"This study reminds me of a comment I once heard someone else
say -- 'Research simply confirms what we already know or suspect,'
" said Lona Sandon, an assistant professor of clinical nutrition at
the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and a
spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.
"There are reams of epidemiological studies that have shown an
association of the Mediterranean eating pattern with better health
overall," Sandon said. "This study adds more fuel to the argument
to make better choices in the types of fats we choose to eat and
adding more vegetables to our plates."
More information
To learn more about the Mediterranean diet, visit the
American Heart Association.
