Cardiovascular Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, Extra Virgin Olive OIl, and Nuts

In the February 2015 Cardiology supplement of the Natural Medicine Journal, author Jacob Schor discusses some of the information that has been gathered through the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) study.  The study involved almost 7500 people (average age 67 years old) who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease.  The participants were divided into 3 groups:  1 group that ate a Mediterranean Diet (MD) and 2 ounces of extra virgin olive oil per day, 1 group that ate a Mediterranean Diet (MD) and 30 g of walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts per day, and the control group that ate a low fat diet.  The MD + olive oil group was found to have a 30% lower risk and the MD + nuts group was found to have a 25% lower risk of having a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular event) than the control group.  Further secondary analysis of the data divided the groups differently and found the participants who followed a MD most closely were 48% less likely to have a cardiovascular event than the participants who followed it least closely.  As well, people in the MD + olive oil group were found to have a 38% lower risk of developing atrial fibrillation than the control group.  Carotid artery ultrasounds were done at the outset of the study and 2.4 years into the study, and the people in the MD + nuts group were found to have improvements in their results with less plaque buildup seen (there was no change seen in the MD + olive group and the control group's ultrasounds had worsened).  The wealth of information gathered from this study points to the importance of integrating extra virgin olive oil and nuts into our regular routine and aiming to closely follow MD guidelines.