The following information about Mediterranean diet foods and benefits is taken from a number of different sources and therefore different specialists and writers. This I believe, gives more weight to mediterranean diet foods and the related benefits. However, there is much more research information than you are about to read and which also makes this appear to be a drop in the ocean. Enjoy.

Mediterranean diet
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By Elizabeth Querna

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In industrialized nations such as the United States, heart disease and cancer have replaced infectious diseases as the top killers, and medicine has shifted its focus from vaccines and quarantines to Lipitor and lifestyle. People who live near the Mediterranean Sea and eat lots of fruit, vegetables, and nuts and little saturated fat, live longer on avarage and have less than Americans, and many think the diet makes the difference. Two studies by European researchers looked at the effects of a Mediterranean diet on health.

What they wanted to know: Can a Mediterranean-style diet help people live longer and healthier lives?

What they did: In one study, the researchers used data collected through a couple of different surveys of people ages 70 to 90 from 13 different countries throughout Europe, stretching from Finland to Portugal. Participants answered questions about smoking, drinking, and physical activity, and nutritionists collected information about their diets. Researchers followed the participants for about 15 years to keep track of deaths. Those who conducted the second study recruited 180 people undergoing treatment for metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetic symptoms. Some participants went to monthly small-group counseling sessions and received individual advice about the benefits of a Mediterranean diet. Other participants had similar sessions but were given only general advice on how to eat a balanced diet, and were not told specific foods to eat or avoid. That study lasted for two years and included blood tests, heart-rate measures, and other laboratory tests.

What they found: Both studies found huge benefits to eating a Mediterranean style diet. In the first study, people who ate a Mediterranean-style diet reduced their risk of dying during the follow-up period by about 25 percent. People who ate those kinds of foods, were physically active, moderate drinkers, and hadn't smoked in at least 15 years had less than half the mortality rate of others in the study. All of those factors individually were associated with lower death rates, too. In the second study, less than half of the people in the group that was counseled about the benefits of a Mediterranean diet still had symptoms of metabolic syndrome after two years, whereas only 12 out of 90 in the noncounseled group had managed to control their symptoms. The researchers found that symptoms such as high blood pressure and sugar sensitivity went away even after controlling for weight, showing that the Mediterranean diet may help patients with metabolic disorder even if they don't lose weight.

What it means to you: These studies provide some of the strongest evidence yet of the benefits of a diet low in saturated fats and high in fiber, fruits, and vegetables. As Harvard epidemiologist Eric Rimm points out in a related editorial, Americans spend billions of dollars a year on medications for diseases they could prevent at a fraction of the cost by changing their diet and lifestyle–with greater benefits. People who do not smoke, do not drink heavily, are active for at least 30 minutes a day, and who eat a Mediterranean style diet will likely live longer than those who don't.

Caveats: In both studies, the researchers lumped many different foods together so that they could tell whether the Mediterranean diet, as a whole, helps prolong life or reduce symptoms of metabolic disorders. However, neither study was able to say whether specific foods in the Mediterranean diet caused the effects they saw or whether it was the combination.

Find out more: The American Heart Organization explains the Mediterranean diet at: http://www.americanheart.org Mediterranean foods are as different as the many cultures in that region, so there is no one set cuisine. Some Mediterranean recipes (mainly Italian) can be found at: http://www.trincoll.edu Greek recipes are at: https://www.greekinternetmarket.com
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Mediterranean Diet can protect from developing breast cancer

16:31 2005-01-10
Scientists have discovered why eating a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables and particularly olive oil can help to protect women from developing breast cancer.

The key is oleic acid, the main component of olive oil.

Dr Javier Menendez, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said oleic acid blocks the action of a cancer-causing oncogene called HER-2/neu which is found in about 30 percent of breast cancer patients.

"We have something now that is able to explain why the Mediterranean diet is so healthy," Menendez told Reuters.

Doctors and researchers had been aware that eating a Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of breast cancer and other illnesses such as heart disease. But until now they did not know how.
Menendez and his colleagues in the United States and Spain studied the impact of oleic acid in laboratory studies of breast cancer cells, publishes Reuters.

According to WLNS, scientists say they've figured out why the Mediterranean Diet can help protect women from developing breast cancer. The key is oleic acid, the main component of olive oil.

In lab studies of breast cancer cells, doctors found the acid blocks the actions of a cancer-causing gene. Researchers had been aware a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and olive oil reduced the risk of breast cancer, but did not know how until now.
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Mediterranean diet has anti-inflammatory effects

08 March, 2006

By Martha Kerr

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sticking to a Mediterranean diet, high in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats, lowers levels of inflammation in the elderly, as reflected by lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), research shows. This effect should, in turn, lead to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease that has been associated with this type of diet.

CRP is a marker of inflammation that has been tied to the risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine in California studied the effect of diet on CRP levels in blood in 911 healthy individuals -- 326 women and 585 men -- whose average age was 66 years. Subjects were followed from January 2002 through December 2003.

Researchers assessed adherence to a Mediterranean diet with a food frequency questionnaire, from which they formulated the Mediterranean Diet Score, based on intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains, meat and meat products, dairy products, fish, alcohol and the mono-unsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio. Total scores ranged from 0 to 9 for adherence to the diet. Plasma CRP levels were measured periodically.

At the American Heart Association ‘s 46th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology, held this past weekend in Phoenix, Dr. Joan M. Fair reported that Mediterranean Diet Score correlated negatively with CRP level.

Each one-point increase in Mediterranean Diet Score was associated with a decrease in CRP of 0.14 mg/L in women and a decrease in CRP of 0.10 mg/L in men.

"The (positive) effects of the Mediterranean diet might be the anti-oxidant components of fruits and vegetables," Fair told Reuters Health, "and the anti-inflammatory effects of the diet may be one explanation for its protective effect against cardiovascular disease."

"There are other markers of inflammation that we haven‘t assessed yet in terms of diet, such as high coronary artery content, which we found in 200 patients. We have the blood available, we just haven‘t run the tests yet," Fair said.
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Mediterranean diet has anti-inflammatory effects

08 March, 2006

By Martha Kerr

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Sticking to a Mediterranean diet, high in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fats, lowers levels of inflammation in the elderly, as reflected by lower levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), research shows. This effect should, in turn, lead to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease that has been associated with this type of diet.

CRP is a marker of inflammation that has been tied to the risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine in California studied the effect of diet on CRP levels in blood in 911 healthy individuals -- 326 women and 585 men -- whose average age was 66 years. Subjects were followed from January 2002 through December 2003.

Researchers assessed adherence to a Mediterranean diet with a food frequency questionnaire, from which they formulated the Mediterranean Diet Score, based on intake of fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains, meat and meat products, dairy products, fish, alcohol and the mono-unsaturated-to-saturated fat ratio. Total scores ranged from 0 to 9 for adherence to the diet. Plasma CRP levels were measured periodically.

At the American Heart Association ‘s 46th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology, held this past weekend in Phoenix, Dr. Joan M. Fair reported that Mediterranean Diet Score correlated negatively with CRP level.

Each one-point increase in Mediterranean Diet Score was associated with a decrease in CRP of 0.14 mg/L in women and a decrease in CRP of 0.10 mg/L in men.

"The (positive) effects of the Mediterranean diet might be the anti-oxidant components of fruits and vegetables," Fair told Reuters Health, "and the anti-inflammatory effects of the diet may be one explanation for its protective effect against cardiovascular disease."

"There are other markers of inflammation that we haven‘t assessed yet in terms of diet, such as high coronary artery content, which we found in 200 patients. We have the blood available, we just haven‘t run the tests yet," Fair said.
Boffins unlock secret of Mediterranean diet

September 01 2005 at 06:31AM

Paris - A stroke of good luck has helped scientists explain one of the mysteries of the Mediterranean diet, a world-famous regime credited with cardiac fitness and a longer lifespan.

Olive oil, one of the diet's mainstays, contains a painkilling compound similar to an ingredient found in over-the-counter inflammatories, they say.

The compound has been found to inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes, which play a key role in causing inflammation, they report in Thursday's issue of the weekly British journal Nature. The widely-used painkiller ibuprofen has a similar pharmacological action.

The discovery came accidentally, thanks to a trip to Italy by US-based biologist Gary Beauchamp, of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre at the University of Pennsylvania.

Beauchamp had previously noted that whenever he took ibuprofen he experienced a stinging sensation in the back of the throat - and he suddenly noticed the same tingling when he tasted pungent newly-pressed olive oil while attending a molecular gastronomy conference on Sicily.

On returning home, Beauchamp and colleagues worked to identify the intriguing chemical.

Isolated from the complex bouquet of molecules that make up olive oil, the compound has been dubbed oleocanthal ("oleo", for olive; "canth", for sting; and "al" for aldehyde).

To rule out the possibility that other compounds may be responsible for the irritation, Beauchamp's team assembled a synthetic form of oleocanthal and tested it on volunteers, and also tested it in lab dishes of COX enzymes.

According to the researchers, taking 50g of extra-virgin olive oil containing up to 200 micrograms of oleocanthal per day is roughly equivalent to 10 percent of the recommended dose of ibuprofen for adult pain relief.

The next step will be to identify exactly how oleocanthal inhibits the enzymes, and how this is related to throat sting.

The much-trumpeted Mediterranean diet is based on olive oil, fish, fresh fruit, vegetables and nuts, and a daily glass of red wine.

Ibuprofen has been associated with a reduction in the risk of developing some kinds of cancer and of dangerous blood clotting. Another COX inhibitor is aspirin, regular but modest doses of which are deemed to help cardiovascular health
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Mediterranean Diet May Cut Alzheimer's

Combining Healthy Foods May Be the Key, Study Shows
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD
on Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Who Gets Alzheimer's? Genes Hold Key

Nutrients for Your Noggin

Earn CME Credits For Reading This Article

April 18, 2006 -- New research links a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes, cereals, and olive oil to a lower risk of Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease.

The finding, published in the early online addition of Annals of Neurology, comes from a study of 2,258 older adults in New York. At the study's start, participants were in their 70s, on average, and none had dementiadementia. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia in seniors.

Participants took a 61-item survey about the foods they typically ate. They also took a battery of tests every 1.5 years for four years to screen for Alzheimer's. Those tests covered mental skills including memory, language, and reasoning.

Participants weren't asked to change their eating habits. During the study, the group had 262 cases of Alzheimer's, with fewer cases seen in participants on Mediterranean-style diets.

Lower Rates of Alzheimer's Disease

"The main finding of the study is that higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet type of food consumption is associated with decreased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease," neurologist Nikoloas Scarmeas, MD, tells WebMD.

Scarmeas, who worked on the study, is an assistant professor of neurology at New York's Columbia University Medical Center.

Based on participants' food surveys, Scarmeas and colleagues gave each participant a score for adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet. Scores ranged from 0-9, with higher scores showing greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet.

Compared with those with the lowest scores, those with middle scores were 15% less likely to have been found to have developed Alzheimer's disease, and those with the highest scores were 40% less likely to have been found to have Alzheimer's disease.

Adjusting for age, ethnicity, education, genetic factors linked to Alzheimer's disease, and caloric intake didn't change the results.

What Did They Eat?

The Mediterranean diet included high intake of certain foods:

* Fruits including apples, oranges, orange or grapefruit juice, peaches, apricots, plums, and bananas
* Vegetables including tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, raw or cooked carrots, corn, yams, spinach, collard greens, and yellow squash
* Legumes including peas, lima beans, lentils, and beans
* Cereals including cold breakfast cereals, white or dark bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes (baked, broiled, or mashed)
* Monounsaturated fatty acids, such as those found in olive oil

The Mediterranean diet also includes moderate amounts of fish of all types, low intake of meat and poultry, low to moderate amounts of dairy products, and a moderate amount of alcohol (usually wine served at meals)
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Part 2
Mediterranean Diet May Cut Alzheimer's

Combining Healthy Foods May Be the Key, Study Shows
(continued)

Who Gets Alzheimer's? Genes Hold Key

Nutrients for Your Noggin

Looking at the Big Picture

Past studies have focused on isolated nutrients, Scarmeas notes.

"The novel approach of this study is that we looked at the combination of foods into a food pattern… because people do not consume dietary elements in isolation, but only as part of their overall diet," he says.

Possibly, it's the combination of nutrients, not single nutrients, "that would be carrying beneficial results," Scarmeas says.

"When we looked at individual elements of this diet in isolation, we could not detect much beneficial effect, while when we looked at all of them together, the effect was there and it was quite prominent," Scarmeas says.

"This underlines again the importance of looking at combinations of foods and nutrients when we look at the diet, rather than individual ones."

Long-Term Habit

The Mediterranean diet isn't a diet in the sense of a temporary dietary change. It's about eating healthfully in the long run, not following flash-in-the-pan food fads.

"We looked into our data, and adherence to these dietary habits seems to be a longstanding pattern," Scarmeas says. "It seems that people do not change their diet preferences and this is what they have been following for years."

"In particular for Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease, we do not know exactly when the disease starts," Scarmeas says. "There are data that show that small changes in the brain may occur decades before the clinical onset of the symptoms. So it seems that it's important that whatever dietary elements are beneficial that they are taken as early as possible and for a long time."

Study's Limits

Observational studies like this one don't prove that participants' eating habits solely prevented Alzheimer's. Even after adjusting for other factors, it's possible that people favoring Mediterranean diets had other traits working in their favor.

"Since it's the first study relating this diet to Alzheimer's disease, it's a little bit premature to make recommendations to people," Scarmeas says. "It has to be replicated and shown that it is beneficial by other investigators and in other studies. That will increase our confidence that this is a true finding."

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