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"It showed that heart attack survivors following a mediterranean diet were far less likely to experience a second heart attack, unstable angina, heart failure, or cardiac-related death than individuals on the typical low-fat diet endorsed by the American Heart Association. At the study's conclusion, the French researchers found similar cholesterol levels in both groups, but something in the mediterranean diet clearly protected participants from heart disease." - Stephen Sinatra, M.D. and James C., M.D. Roberts, Reverse Heart Disease Now: Stop Deadly Cardiovascular Plaque Before It's Too Late (Get the book.)

"You can accomplish this with the Vitamin D Cure eating plan, which, like the DASH diet and the mediterranean diet, asks you to eat more vegetables and fruits (these provide large amounts of antacid). With these diets, you also take in greater amounts of omega-3 fatty acids compared to omega-6 fats and saturated fats, so these things all synch up to produce excellent health benefits. Going Paleolithic The big advantage of the Vitamin D Cure eating plan is that it takes the DASH and Mediterranean diets one step farther. Here's how the idea evolved." - James Dowd and Diane Stafford, The Vitamin D Cure (Get the book.)

"More whole grains, vegetables and fruits, and less saturated fat, modeled after the traditional mediterranean diet, were emphasized. Although not an extremely low-fat diet, consisting of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, seafood and olive oil with limited meat and dairy (mostly cheese), the mediterranean diet offers a high intake of neutral or beneficial fats found in olive and walnut oils. Low breast cancer rates of Greek and southern Italian women may be attributed to the protective effects of these beneficial omega-3s." - Freedom Press, Natural Cancer Cures: The Definitive Guide to Using Dietary Supplements to Fight and Prevent Cancer (Get the book.)

"They don't eat a mediterranean diet." Dr. Gianni Pes, the scientist who first delivered the Blue Zone data to demographers, also told us that environment and lifestyle might be more important factors than genetics to explain the longevity of Sardinians. "Consider, for instance, the genes of inflammation. We expected to find something interesting in Sardinian DNA. We studied several tens of gene variants related to inflammation but we didn't find any evidence of their role in survival of Sardinians. The same for genes related to cancer, and those related to cardiovascular disease." - Dan Buettner, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest (Get the book.)

"It sometimes seems like there is a food-fad-of-the-month club promoting diets that range from the patently absurd (such as the Atkins, Zone, and Eat for Your Blood Type varieties) to some that are moderately beneficial, such as the mediterranean diet and the Asian diet. The mediterranean diet lowers heart disease risk about 30%, and the Asian diet lowers heart disease risk about 35%. I am all in favor of lowering heart disease a little bit, but personally, I am not interested in making modest improvements when it comes to protecting myself and my family." - Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Cholesterol Protection for Life, New Expanded Edition (Get the book.)

"Patients with heart disease who followed the mediterranean diet had a 50% to 70% reduction in recurrent heart attacks.59 These results are twice as good as those of any medication. It's a pretty simple diet to follow over the long term. Eat at least one serving of fruit every day, which I define as one apple, one banana, one peach, one cup of blueberries, and so on. Have three or four servings of vegetables every day: a cup of broccoli, two or three cups of leafy greens, a cup of tomatoes, etc." - J. Douglas Bremner, Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health (Get the book.)

"A recent study of New Yorkers by the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center found that closely following the patterns of the mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. More needs to be known about this possible food synergy benefit, but so far this looks like another reason to eat the Mediterranean way! Reduce levels of oxidized LDL in the circulation." - Elaine Magee, Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well (Get the book.) "It also doesn't hurt that the mediterranean diet is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and lower levels of obesity. According to Dimitrios Trichopoulos, MD, PhD, from the Harvard School of Public Health, who recently studied the diets of more than 20,000 Greeks W1F4JM' OLIVE OIL Aside from being flavorful and delicious, olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat and offers a wealth of benefits over the higher polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Consider the following: Olive oil may decrease the risk of cancer." - Elaine Magee, Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well (Get the book.) "Keys first observed the health and habits of the people in Crete, researchers are still examining the mediterranean diet, with some of the most recent studies finding that the magic seems to be in the combination of foods rather than one or two particular ingredients (like olive oil or wine)." - Elaine Magee, Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well (Get the book.) "But it was only half a century ago that researcher Ancel Keys, MD, PhD, first pointed out the health benefits of the mediterranean diet. He studied the way rural villagers ate on the Greek island of Crete, where they enjoyed a plant-rich diet with fish and very little meat and plenty of fruits and green vegetables. The people on Crete also drank wine every day and got more than one-third of their calories from fat, most of it from olive oil, which is rich in monounsaturated fat. But where was all the pasta, you ask?" - Elaine Magee, Food Synergy: Unleash Hundreds of Powerful Healing Food Combinations to Fight Disease and Live Well (Get the book.)

"Mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors, and the rate of cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction: Final report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. Circulation 99, 779-785. 98. Kris-Etherton, P., Eckel, R. H., Howard, B. V., St. Jeor, S., and Bazzarre, T. L. (2001). Lyon Diet Heart Study: Benefits of a Mediterranean-style, National Cholesterol Education Program/American Heart Association Step I dietary pattern on cardiovascular disease. Circulation 103, 1823-1825. 99. Wang, C, Harris, W. S., Chung, M., et al. (2006)." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.) "Mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors, and the rate of cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction: final report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study. Circulation 99, 779-785. 232. Bucher, H. C, Hengstler, P., Schindler, C, and Meier, G. (2002). N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am. J. Med. 112, 298-304. 233. Burr, M. L. (1992). Fish food, fish oil and cardiovascular disease. Clin. Exp. Hypertens. A. 14, 181-192. 234. Dolecek, T. A., and Granditis, G. (1991)." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.)

"Patients with heart disease who followed the mediterranean diet had a 50% to 70% reduction in recurrent heart attacks.7 Overall, this diet had a much more beneficial effect than either statins or weight-loss drugs, and without side effects. You'll lose weight eating this way, and you'll look and feel great. The Bottom Line Don't take diet pills, herbs, or supplements. Not for a few weeks, not for a few days, not ever. Not alone and not in combination with a diet program." - J. Douglas Bremner, Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health (Get the book.)

"On the other hand, some of the benefits of the mediterranean diet, rich in monounsaturated fatty acids from olive oil (as well as the high fish consumption providing adequate levels of PUFA n-3) may derive from the intriguing finding in the Framing-ham study supporting the notion that some individuals (carriers of the C allele at the -113IT > C SNP) may consume a high percentage of fat, especially MUFA, in their habitual diet without adversely affecting their BMI and their risk of overweight and obesity [147]. F." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.)

"Take the example of the recent studies of the beneficial effects of the "Mediterranean diet." This is a diet that is touted as salutary because of the relative longevity of the citizens of a number of Mediterranean countries, notably Greece (Trichopoulou et al. 2003), where the diet is rich in unsaturated lipids (i.e., olive oil), cheeses, wine, grains, legumes, and fish but lacking in meat. Two large, ten-year prospective studies of samples of the elderly population of many European countries were undertaken to explore this association." - Nortin M. Hadler MD, Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America (Get the book.)

"Lessons from the Mediterranean In recent years, nutritionists have extolled the benefits of what has come to be known as the mediterranean diet, which broadly consists of a high intake of fish, fruits and vegetables, legumes, cereals, and olive oil, and a low to moderate intake of dairy products, red meat and poultry, and alcohol. This is a diet thought to be vaguely reminiscent of our hunter-gatherer ancestors (minus dairy, oil, and alcohol), and thus more in accordance with our genetic inheritance." - Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George, The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis (Get the book.) "It appears that the various components of the mediterranean diet do promote lower inflammation, oxidative stress, and serum protein levels, which in turn lower risk for vascular problems that can contribute to brain aging—hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. A diet high in fruits and vegetables will also suffuse bodies with micronutrients and antioxidants that may protect the brain by mopping up free radicals potentially hazardous to neurons. Was Mom right about fruits and vegetables?" - Peter J. Whitehouse and Daniel George, The Myth of Alzheimer's: What You Aren't Being Told About Today's Most Dreaded Diagnosis (Get the book.)

"Katherine Esposito and her colleagues at the University of Naples in Italy also measured the levels of inflammatory substances associated with heart attacks and strokes and found that the study participants on the mediterranean diet had lower levels of all inflammatory substances than those on the control diet. These same people also showed greatly improved blood vessel wall function, with dilation of blood vessels and decreased platelet sticking. Clearly, omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats, along with increased intake of vegetables and fruits, are important to your health." - James Dowd and Diane Stafford, The Vitamin D Cure (Get the book.) "The Mediterranean Difference The mediterranean diet emphasizes healthy fat intake. You get monounsaturated fat from olive oil and omega-3 fatty acids from dark-meat fish; you increase your vegetable and fruit intake, and you eat fewer refined carbs. Metabolic syndrome sufferers who stayed on this diet for two years had greater reductions than control-diet participants in these areas: ?Weight ?Triglycerides ?Waist circumference ?Fasting glucose ?Blood pressure ?Insulin ?Total cholesterol They had greater increases in their HDL levels as well. Study directors Dr." - James Dowd and Diane Stafford, The Vitamin D Cure (Get the book.)

"Vogel has pointed out is that the protective elements in the mediterranean diet are the antioxidants found in the plant sources of the cuisine. He felt that there was some protection against the direct impairment of endothelial function produced by high-fat foods, including olive oil. In another study exploring the same issue, reported in the American Journal of Cardiology, they also found that the constriction was worse in twelve healthy and twelve high-cholesterol subjects after consuming olive oil. Extra Virgin olive oil does contain polyphenols that give some antioxidant protection." - Gabriel Cousens, There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program (Get the book.)

"It sometimes seems like there is a food-fad-of-the-month club promoting diets that range from the patently absurd (such as the Atkins, Zone, and Eat for Your Blood Type varieties) to some that are moderately beneficial, such as the mediterranean diet and the Asian diet. The mediterranean diet lowers heart disease risk about 30%, and the Asian diet lowers heart disease risk about 35%. I am all in favor of lowering heart disease a little bit, but personally, I am not interested in making modest improvements when it comes to protecting myself and my family." - Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Cholesterol Protection for Life, New Expanded Edition (Get the book.)

"Research has shown that dietary patterns such as those high in plant foods [339], low in refined carbohydrates, and low or moderate in fat, such the DASH diet or the mediterranean diet pattern, are related to reduced occurrence of many chronic diseases of aging [340-343]. Therefore, such nutrient-rich diet patterns are also likely to provide benefit in slowing the development of age-related cataract, AMD, and DR. References 1. West, K. P., and Jr., McLaren, D. (2003). The epidemiology of vitamin A deficiency disorders (VADD). In "The Epidemiology of Eye Disease" (G. J. Johnson, D. C." - Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey, Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease (Get the book.)

"Marion Nestle also cautions against taking the diet out of the context of the lifestyle, a particular hazard when comparing the diets of different populations. The mediterranean diet is widely believed to be one of the most healthful traditional diets, yet much of what we know about it is based on studies of people living in the 1950s on the island of Crete—people who in many respects led lives very different from our own. Yes, they ate lots of olive oil and more fish than meat. But they also did more physical labor. As followers of the Greek Orthodox church, they fasted frequently." - Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Get the book.)

"These dietary recommendations are essentially our version of the mediterranean diet. We emphasize high-quality protein such as chicken and fish and a lot of high-fiber vegetables and fruits, olive and macadamia nut oils, and vinegar, but much less starch than in the traditional mediterranean diet. You will be able to find many healthy equivalents in natural food stores such as Whole Foods, Wild Oats, and Vitamin Cottage. For example, most commercial brands of mayonnaise, such as Kraft, use soybean oil, which is not as healthy as other oils." - Jack Challem, Stop Prediabetes Now: The Ultimate Plan to Lose Weight and Prevent Diabetes (Get the book.)

"Heart attack patients were randomly counseled to eat a mediterranean diet (high in unprocessed grains, fruits, vegetables and olive oil.. very low in red meat, dairy fat and cholesterol) or a "prudent" post-heart attack diet (no more than 30% of calories from total fat and no more than 10% from saturated fat). During the next four years, the people who were counseled to eat the mediterranean diet developed 72% less heart disease than those in the prudent-diet group." - Bottom Line Health, Bottom Line's Health Breakthroughs 2007 (Get the book.)

"CANCER PREVENTION: Epidemiological evidence suggests that olive and olive oil consumption as part of a mediterranean diet has cancer-protective properties. COLON CANCER: Spanish researchers found that the active ingredients maslinic and oleanolic acids in olive oil prevented human colon cancer cells from multiplying and restored apoptosis (programmed cell death)." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.) "De Lorgeril M, et al. mediterranean diet, traditional risk factors, and the rate of cardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction. Circulation. 1999; 99: 779-785. Harris WS, Isley WL. Clinical trial evidence for the cardioprotective effects of omega-3 acids. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2001; 3(2): 174-179. Jho DH, Cole SM, Lee EM, Espat NJ. Role of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation in inflammation and malignancy. Integr Cancer Ther. 2004 Jun;3(2):98-lll. Kris-Etherton P, Harris WS, Appel LJ. Fish consumption, fish oil, omega-3 fatty acids, and cardiovascular disease." - David W. Grotto, RD, LDN, 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life! (Get the book.)

"One group ate a mediterranean diet that included a moderate fat content of 35 percent. The other group was on a low-fat diet with only 20 percent of calories from fat. After 6 months both groups lost about the same amount of weight. But the real change came after 18 months. By then the average weight loss on the higher-fat diet was roughly 10 pounds compared to the low-fat dieters' loss of about 6 pounds. And after 1 more year the higher-fat diet group had been able to maintain almost all of their weight loss.12 Of course the critical issue here is the type of fat." - Wendy Bazilian, DRPH, MA, RD, Steven Pratt, MD, Kathy Matthews, Superfoods Rx Diet: Lose Weight with the Power of SuperNutrients (Get the book.) "Tomatoes, a featured actor of the health-promoting mediterranean diet, have demonstrated health benefits, particularly in relation to certain types of cancers as well as heart disease. For those reasons alone these SuperFoods would be critical additions to anyone's diet. Given all these positive attributes, and the fact that these four foods are all widely available and delicious, it's easy to see why anyone would be eager to incorporate them into his or her regular diet." - Wendy Bazilian, DRPH, MA, RD, Steven Pratt, MD, Kathy Matthews, Superfoods Rx Diet: Lose Weight with the Power of SuperNutrients (Get the book.)

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