Exploring the Health Benefits of Adopting a Mediterranean Diet

June 07, 2023 - While healthcare professionals widely accept that nutrition is critical to good health, there is confusion and disagreement on the best dietary patterns for improved patient outcomes. The appropriate eating habits may vary between individuals depending on genetics, health conditions, age, height, size, and other demographic factors. Although many acknowledge that nutrition and diet should be evaluated individually, recent research explores the health benefits of adopting a Mediterranean diet, sometimes called MedDiet, for controlling weight and managing chronic disease.

What Is the Mediterranean Diet?

Harvard University School of Public Health notes that a Mediterranean diet mimics historical eating patterns of multiple areas along the Mediterranean Sea, including Crete, an island in Greece, other Greek jurisdictions, and southern Italy. Despite not being the standard diet across Mediterranean Countries in the present day, the recommendations of the Mediterranean diet reflect traditional cultural norms, with a focus on plant-based nutrition.

According to a systematic review published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, “The MedDiet is most closely tied to traditional areas of olive cultivation in the Mediterranean region and has historically been associated with low rates of chronic diseases and high adult life expectancy even though shifts in diets and lifestyles over recent decades have blurred these relationships.”

The diet heavily favors the consumption of whole grains — including whole grain cereals, healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, beans, legumes, nuts, herbs, and spices. Healthy fats may include fish with omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil — especially extra virgin olive oil.

As a general rule of thumb, following this nutrition plan includes a preference for fish and seafood, with at least two servings per week. Comparatively, dairy products, poultry, and eggs are consumed less frequently or in reduced quantities. Going even further, many clinical nutrition experts emphasize that MedDiet includes little to no red meat.

Beyond food consumption, this eating pattern promotes water as the primary liquid intake; however, moderate amounts of red wine are also incorporated into the nutrition plan.

Researchers and health professionals often describe the Mediterranean diet as a lifestyle instead of a meal plan. The connotation around the word diet implies a temporary fad that focuses exclusively on eating. However, data shows, to maintain the diet’s benefits, patients must commit to a general lifestyle change, incorporating daily movement and physical activity.  

What Are the Health Benefits of a Mediterranean Diet?

Recent nutritional research focusing on the effects of the Mediterranean diet has revealed multiple health benefits linked to adopting and maintaining these healthy eating patterns. The Journal of Internal Medicine suggests that a Mediterranean dietary pattern is correlated with a lower risk of obesity, weight gain, cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive decline, metabolic syndromes, total mortality, and diabetes.

Additional data from prospective cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, and other observational studies reveal that the Mediterranean diet improves a patient’s overall health status.

According to a meta-analysis published in the European Journal of Public Health, many studies indicate that increased adherence to the Mediterranean-style diet reduced the risk of all-cause mortality, noting a 2-point adherence increase reduced risk by 8%.

Cardiovascular

One notable benefit of a Mediterranean diet is its ability to improve cardiovascular health. The Seven Countries Study — one of the first to highlight the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet — revealed that adhering to this nutrition pattern improved health outcomes by reducing cardiovascular risk factors and the risk of cardiovascular disease overall.

According to a review published by Miguel A. Martinez-Gonzalez and his colleagues in Circulation Research, a journal run by the American Heart Association (AHA), managing diet has been a critical tool for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Data suggests this nutrition plan may reduce inflammation, regulate blood sugar, and manage body mass index.

Because the diet favors unsaturated fats over saturated fats, the risk of arterial blockages and subsequent heart complications is significantly lower. The Harvard article notes that the efficacy of the Mediterranean diet proves that a low-fat meal plan is not necessarily the most critical component for reducing cardiovascular health. Instead, the type of fat has more of an impact.

Compared to other dietary interventions, a Mediterranean-type diet improved LDL cholesterol levels, reducing them by 0.15 mmol/L. Additionally, the diet reduced triglyceride levels by 0.09 mmol/L.

According to the publication, “Benefits of MedDiet on blood lipids are consistent with the broader literature showing the benefits of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids on blood lipids and also a meta-analysis on red meat RCT, showing that substituting red meat with high-quality plant protein sources, but not with fish or low-quality carbohydrates, leads to more favorable changes in blood lipids and lipoproteins.”

Data from the Nurse’s Health Study found that a higher Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) reduced the risk of coronary heart disease by roughly 29%. Additionally, stroke risk was approximately 13% lower. Furthermore, research across six clinical trials showed that this nutrition plan can manage hypertension, lowering systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Endocrine

In addition to the benefits of the diet on cardiovascular health, multiple sources have demonstrated favorable outcomes for endocrine health. Data reveals that type 2 diabetes (T2D) incidence rates were roughly 13% lower for those who follow Mediterranean dietary guidelines.

An analysis of data from the Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea (PREDIMED) trial, a clinical study across 51 sites in Spain, showed that adhering to a Mediterranean diet reduced T2D risk by 30%. This insight reveals that this diet can improve glycemic control, weight loss, and more.

Neurological

Beyond the typical impacts that patients and providers link to a healthy diet, the Mediterranean diet also causes a reduced risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, and improves cognitive function in older adults.

Experts at Harvard theorize that a diet heavy in antioxidants, such as the MedDiet, help slow cell aging and reduce the risk of these neurological conditions. According to the article, “Telomeres with long lengths are considered protective against chronic diseases and earlier death, whereas short lengths increase risk. Antioxidants can help combat cell stress and preserve telomere lengths, such as by eating foods that contain antioxidants nutrients like fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains.”

Respiratory health

A European Journal of Public Health study also linked MedDiet to improved respiratory health. The data explains that the risk of asthma was significantly lower among groups with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Some experts hypothesize that the diet's anti-inflammatory effects can reduce inflammation in the airways and better manage asthma.

Although the data has implied unparalleled benefits, follow-up research is critical to establish the benefits of the diet, determine the appropriate proportions of food, and assess the impacts on chronic disease.