It’s Never Too Late to Adopt a Mediterranean Diet
Despite ongoing efforts to encourage people to follow a heart-healthy diet, some individuals are not ready to listen until they have a heart attack or stroke. Even so, there has been no consensus about the best diet for preventing additional cardiovascular events—that is, until now. Researchers in the Coronary Diet Intervention with Olive Oil and Cardiovascular Prevention (CORDIOPREV) trial reported online Aug. 10 in Stroke that a Mediterranean diet reduced the progression of atherosclerosis more effectively than a low-fat diet. In this randomized, controlled trial, all 1,002 participants underwent screening to obtain a measure of the intima-media thickness (IMT) in their common carotid arteries (CC). Then, they followed their assigned diet and were screened again five and seven years after the study began. The researchers found no changes in IMT-CC in the low-fat diet group. In the Mediterranean diet group, however, IMT-CC was significantly less at five and seven years than at baseline. After one year, Mediterranean diet followers found their endothelial function had improved, even when they had type 2 diabetes.
