Mediterranean-Style Diet May Help Reduce Diabetes Risk
To help reduce your risk of diabetes, eat like a Mediterranean. That’s the suggestion of a new Spanish study, which linked following a Mediterranean-style diet to sharply lower rates of developing type 2 diabetes.
The findings, by lead author Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez, MD, PhD, of the University of Navarra and colleagues, are consistent with the scientists’ previous research associating a Mediterranean-style diet with reduced risk of metabolic syndrome, a precursor of diabetes. Other studies have reported that such a dietary pattern might be beneficial against mortality from heart disease and some cancers.
Though there’s no such thing as a “Mediterranean diet” per se, these studies suggest that the traditional eating habits of people living around the Mediterranean Sea might be a good pattern for protection against some chronic diseases. The Spanish researchers pointed out that such a diet is highly palatable, so people are more likely to stick with it. A Mediterranean-style diet is characterized by the use of olive oil as the major culinary fat and high intake of fruits, nuts, legumes and fish, with relatively low consumption of meat and dairy.
Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez emphasized the importance of olive oil in this diet. He noted that diets high in monounsaturated fats — such as olive oil — and low in saturated fats improve lipid profiles as well as insulin resistance and glycemic control in diabetes patients.
The latest study followed 13,380 men and women, initially free of diabetes, for an average of 4.4 years. Researchers assessed participants’ diets using a 136-item food-frequency questionnaire, then scored the responses on a nine-point scale for adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet.
Although only a few subjects developed diabetes during the course of the study, those with the highest adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet were 83% less likely to be among those developing diabetes. Even moderate adherence was associated with a 59% relative reduction in risk. Every two-point increase in adherence saw a 35% risk reduction.
“The new thing is that we have been able to assess adherence to a [Mediterranean-style] diet and the incidence of diabetes in people who were initially healthy,” Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez told Reuters news service. “We didn’t expect such a high reduction.”
Of particular interest, he added, was the fact that the benefit applied equally to older people, smokers and those with a family history of diabetes. “These higher-risk participants with better adherence to the diet, however, had a lower risk of diabetes,” the researchers wrote, “suggesting that the diet might have a substantial potential for prevention.”
Publishing their findings initially on the British Medical Journal’s Web site, the researchers cautioned that the study was limited by the small number of new diabetes cases. They called for further prospective observational studies and trials to confirm their results.
TO LEARN MORE: BMJ, online before print at <dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39561.501007.BE>. American Diabetes Association: “Making Healthy Food Choices” <www.diabetes.org/diabetes-prevention/nutrition/healthyfoodchoices.jsp>.
