Mediterranean and low fat diets reduce risk of deaths from cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks and strokes, according to new research.
There is no shortage of diets to choose from and while many claim to offer weight loss results, the Mediterranean diet may help you live longer - especially if you're at high risk of heart disease, according to a new comparative study published in the BMJ.
Out of the seven diets examined, researchers reported that the Mediterranean diet was found to increase longer life, as well as reduce risks of stroke.
They concluded that Medditerranean and low fat dietary programmes "probably reduce the risk of mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction in people at increased cardiovascular risk".
The diet focuses on foods based on the traditions of countries like Greece and Italy. These include plant based whole grains, fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, healthy fats like olive oil and nuts.
Previous data shows Italy - a country that's known for its varied diet of fresh fruits and vegetables - has an average life expectancy of 82 years. This is quite a difference compared to Scotland's 76 year average for men and 80 years for women.
Researchers compared 40 randomised trials of 35,548 participants on seven known diet plans..
The diets examined include low fat, Mediterranean, very low fat, modified fat, combined low fat, low sodium, Ornish — a low fat vegetarian plan for heart disease — and Pritikin, a low fat, high fibre eating plan.
Several previous analyses of randomised controlled trials have suggested that some diets can reduce major cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks - but any beneficial impact on death is still uncertain.
Based on "moderate certainty evidence", Mediterranean dietary programmes were better than minimal intervention at preventing all cause mortality, with seven fewer deaths per 1000 over five years.
It also reduced rates of non-fatal heart attack by 17 fewer per 1000 and stroke — seven fewer per 1000 — for patients at intermediate risk of cardiovascular disease.
Low fat programmes were also superior to minimal intervention with moderate certainty for prevention of all cause mortality - nine fewer deaths per 1000 and non-fatal heart attack - seven fewer per 1000.
When compared with one another, there were no convincing differences between Mediterranean and low fat programmes for mortality or non-fatal heart attack.
The absolute effects for both dietary programmes were more pronounced for patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Analysis shows that among those that followed the Mediterranean diet for five years, there were 36 fewer all-cause deaths per 1000 and 39 fewer cardiovascular deaths per 1000.
The five other dietary programmes generally had little or no benefit compared with minimal intervention.
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