MEDITERRANEAN DIET IS GOOD FOR THE HEART . RE-CONFIRMATION

Ever since I was in medical school, we have always been taught that mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, greens, veges, fish, all minimally processed, is good for the heart. It improves our lipid profile, prevents atherosclerotic heart disease and also lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Even if that should occur ( in the minority ) it also lessens the risk of dying. Basically, the mediterranean diet is good for the heart and our health. Well, that message is re-emphasize by researchers from Boston, who presented new data from the NURSES HEALTH STUDY, and published in the on-line edition of the 16th Feb 2009, Circulation. Dr Theresa Fung and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health, published their 20 year followup data on about 74,900 women, who were questioned on their diet preference and followed up over 20 years. The women who were solely on mediterranean, had the lowers incidence of heart attacks and strokes, and should they occur, had the lowest risk of dying. They also had fewer documented incidence of heart disease. All the p-values given had at three zeros in front ( if you know what I mean ). With 74,000 subjects, when you are on the right track, it is so easy to get good p-values.
In writing this blog, I just wished to re-emphaize the value of the mediterranean diet. The bottomline is that mediterranean diet is good for us, and should be encouraged.