A Mediterranean diet can unblock your heart

Added on 03/03/10

Author: Graham Pembrey

With fast-food culture having seemingly taken over the western world and fatty food addictions continuing to wreak havoc on health, it is unsurprising that many people’s arteries become clogged with fat.

Eating a healthy diet can help avoid this problem in the first place though, and even for people whose arteries have become blocked, new evidence suggests that this damage can be undone.

So what is the solution? Well, Mediterranean, low carbohydrate and low-fat diets are all equally good way to undo heart damage, according to Israeli researchers.

They carried out a two-year study of 140 overweight volunteers who were asked to follow these diets. By the end of the trial, their arterial walls had been cut by an average of 5%. This would have reduced their risk of developing atherosclerosis, a condition where the arteries thicken with harmful fat, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

The Mediterranean diet is praised by nutritionists for its health benefits. Enjoyed in countries such as Italy and Greece, it typically includes plenty of vegetables and fruit, moderate amounts of fish and dairy, and olive oil. Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat. Unlike saturated fats typically found in foods like chips and red meat, monounsaturated fat is heralded for its health benefits.

Studies show people consuming this diet live longer, and face a significantly lower risk of common health problems, including cardiovascular disease.

The most famous type of low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet is probably the Atkins diet. Followed by thousands of people since it became popular in the 1990s, many have found it a useful weight loss tool.

It is worth bearing in mind that you should be careful if you choose to follow the Atkins diet. For all that it works very well for some people, others may run into difficulties by cutting carbohydrates – a useful source of energy -from their diet.