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Posted on 02/25/2013 4:33:31 PM PST by neverdem
Comment Now Follow Comments Earlier today I summarized the important new PREDIMED study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing the cardiovascular benefits of the Mediterranean diet. This study– a rare and much welcome instance of a large randomized controlled study of a diet powered to reach conclusions about important cardiovascular endpoints– has been widely praised and will undoubtedly have a major effect in the field of nutrition and will influence lots of people to adopt some form of a Mediterranean diet.
The study’s major potential weakness appears to be that the control group didn’t get a fair chance. Here’s how the authors describe the control group:
Participants in the control group… received dietary training at the baseline visit and completed the 14-item dietary screener used to assess baseline adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Thereafter, during the first 3 years of the trial, they received a leaflet explaining the low-fat diet (Table S2 in the Supplementary Appendix) on a yearly basis. However, the realization that the more infrequent visit schedule and less intense support for the control group might be limitations of the trial prompted us to amend the protocol in October 2006. Thereafter, participants assigned to the control diet received personalized advice and were invited to group sessions with the same frequency and intensity as those in the Mediterranean-diet groups, with the use of a separate 9-item dietary screener (Table S3 in the Supplementary Appendix)...
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
It's a FReebie, but it opens at the discussion courtesy of Forbes.
My mom age 86 has a diet including olive oil, garlic, salads and some fish. She also eats red meats, butter, cakes, ice cream, bagels and such. She’s a bit overweight with HBP but she’s still around. Only one male member of the extended family to my knowledge has made it to age 80.
Ping! You knew it all the while!
Indeed.. It’s my way of life, so to speak.. I’ve been preaching it for years.. Now I hope more people will listen.. LOL
I just wonder if the good outcomes are based more on the diet or more on the genetics of the Spaniards participating.
For instance, and I mean this seriously, if African Americans ate a diet like this would this reduce the high rates of hypertension they have as a race? I suspect not, but I don’t know, of course.
Or, mother could reclaim her previous job as family nutritionist.
I work with a naturalized Iraqi (their diet is similar); he couldn’t think of anyone there who had diabetes or heart disease under the age of 70 - or, more importantly, anyone who DIED from those causes. It’s hard to say if this is the diet or genetics. There is a certain logic to “survival of the fittest”, also...the brutal truth is that in areas with little modern medical care, people who don’t have good, “tough” genes reproduce less simply because of the lack of opportunity. The ethnic diet of my ancestors was TERRIBLE by any standards (bread, cabbage, potatoes, fried everything, and vodka) and yet they lived quite long lives.
Soy, is not fit for human consumption, and has compounds that mimic female reproductive hormones (called Phytoestrogens) and absolutely have no business being in foods that men consume, but try going to the grocery store and buying any manufactured food that doesn't contain soy. It's a challenge...
Fresh fruits and vegetables when in season... Raw, unpasteurized dairy products, Meat, Fish, Poultry, Eggs... whole wheat bread... this is real food.
Salient components of the Mediterranean diet reportedly associated with better survival include moderate consumption of ethanol (mostly from wine), low consumption of meat and meat products, and high consumption of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, fish, and olive oil. Perhaps there is a synergy among the nutrient-rich foods included in the Mediterranean diet that fosters favorable changes in intermediate pathways of cardiometabolic risk, such as blood lipids, insulin sensitivity, resistance to oxidation, inflammation, and vasoreactivity.
...favorable trends were seen for both stroke and myocardial infarction. ...changes in total fat were small and the largest differences at the end of the trial were in the distribution of fat subtypes.
...extra-virgin olive oil and nuts were probably responsible for most of the observed benefits of the Mediterranean diets. Differences were also observed for fish and legumes but not for other food groups.
In conclusion, in this primary prevention trial, we observed that an energy-unrestricted Mediterranean diet, supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts, resulted in a substantial reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events among high-risk persons.
Or,mother could reclaim her previous job as family nutritionist.
My mother was exactly what you describe... and you know what? These days finding a young woman that has half a clue what real food is... and how to meal plan for a family without it coming premade in some form... it's next to impossible. I am fortunate that in the town I live in now a young very beautiful local businesswoman has a business catering to people's health as a Wellness Coach/Cook/Naturopath... she's my Surrogate Mom to a degree.
These days finding a young woman that has half a clue what real food is... and how to meal plan for a family without it coming premade in some form... it’s next to impossible.
&&&
That is so true. I am just appalled at what they give their kids. They are clueless, and they have no desire to improve their skills.
One can learn how to do just about anything on the Internet. There are nutrition sources all over, but, apparently, they just don’t care.
Beginning on October 1, 2003, participants were randomly assigned, in a 1:1:1 ratio, to one of three dietary intervention groups: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts, or a control diet. Randomization was performed centrally by means of a computer-generated random-number sequence.
Ummm, so they put some fat people middle aged people on a controlled diet for a change and it worked?
Amazing what passes for science these days...
Wait til they find out that high fat, high protein, extremely low carb diet is the healthiest way to live. The AHA can enjoy being fat and choke on their whole grains.
The results were fudged. The control study had no controls. Pure garbage. The study was a product of the “Olive Garden” restaurant
Good grief. Consuming these things in moderation isn't harmful in any way. These are just more nonsensical scares foisted on an ignorant public by people who know scaring the public can generate lots of money and power.
Soy, is not fit for human consumption, and has compounds that mimic female reproductive hormones (called Phytoestrogens)
I don't think you understand enough about soy and phytoestrogens, otherwise you wouldn't be so fearful. The people of Guam consume more soy per capita than anyone else in the world, and they still enjoy the longest life span of any people on earth.
Raw, unpasteurized dairy products...
Yup, nothing says good health and long life like a warm glass of pathogen ridden raw milk, or cheese rampant with listeria.
“Wait til they find out that high fat, high protein, extremely low carb diet is the healthiest way to live. The AHA can enjoy being fat and choke on their whole grains.”
Remember Woody Allen’s “Sleeper”? “Have some chocolate and tobacco” - the joke being that in the future, many foods with bad reputations are discovered to have health benefits.
Well, Doritos do contain red dye and “dye” sounds like “die”, so you’re wrong!
You’re right. It would be fairly easy to compare Polish medical records with Greek or Iraqi. Are there major differences in outcomes?
I know where my milk comes from.
Enjoy your Soylent Green.
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