Post by Allison Aubrey, The Salt at NPR Food (1/22/14)
There's fresh evidence that a Mediterranean diet can help cut the risk of atherosclerosis, a disease caused by the build up of plaque in the arteries.
A new analysis, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, builds on the work of a prior study, which looked at how diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, fish and healthy oils — namely olive oil — cuts the risk of heart attacks and strokes. That earlier study found that the risk was 30 percent lower for people eating the Mediterranean diet compared to those on a standard low-fat diet.
The new analysis looked specifically at how a Mediterranean diet influences the development of peripheral artery disease. This is a common condition among older men and women in which arteries narrowed by atherosclerosis cut off the flow of blood to limbs such as legs and feet.
The study, which included some 8,000 men and women in their 60s and 70s, had participants follow either a Mediterranean diet with extra olive oil, a Mediterranean diet with extra nuts or a standard low-fat diet. The researchers found that the people on the Mediterranean diets had less build-up of fatty deposits in their arteries that leads to peripheral artery disease compared to the men and women on the low-fat diet.