More whole foods and less processed foods, so we lower the risks of heart attack and stroke
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It is well known that eating well and in moderation protects the heart and blood vessels. It is equally well known that variety in nutrition is the basis of well-being. But now a study says that perhaps we need to go beyond the classic dictates of the Mediterranean diet. Or rather, it tends to take food choices to extremes, signaling that perhaps it is still possible to overcome the protective effects of our ancestors’ diet.
The important thing is to increase the consumption of fruit, vegetables, nuts and nuts, foods rich in fibre, favoring limited quantities of white meat over red meat and consuming almost exclusively foods that do not undergo particular transformations. With this nutritional model it is possible to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in those who have already experienced cardiovascular problems. To say it is a research on just under 27,000 subjects that appeared on European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Mediterranean diet alone may cut heart attack risk by a quarter (in women)
by Federico Mereta
Those suffering from widespread arterial problems are under scrutiny
The research was coordinated by Sonia Anand of Canadian McMaster University operating at the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton e Darryl Wan who works at McMaster and the University of British Columbia. Patients with coronary artery disease and peripheral artery disease were followed, both at high risk of heart attack and stroke. Notably, this is the largest study of patients with obliterating arterial disease of the lower extremities, better known as shop-window disease.
The pathology presents with the appearance of pain in the legs while walking and if not diagnosed in time carries a high risk of amputation, stroke and heart attack because it is an important predictor of coronary artery disease. The patients studied (mean age 68 years) were part of the COMPASS study cohort and were approximately four out of five males.
Diet was assessed at baseline with a food frequency questionnaire containing all major food groups (dairy products, unprocessed and processed red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, whole and refined grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, and soft drinks ). Data from the questionnaire were used to evaluate the quality of the diet according to the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (0 to 70) and the Mediterranean diet score (0 to 8), both modified according to the information available in the questionnaire.
Heart door
In women, the disease of the shop windows is treated less and worse
by Federico Mereta
Over two years of monitoring
During the 30 months of observation, the scholars (33 countries involved in the multicentre survey) recorded 1,391 events, of which 1,262 were cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke or similar and 140 were limb events. Looking at the modified Alternate Healthy Eating Index, the mean score was 23. The incidence of recurrent clinical cardiovascular outcomes was higher in patients with poor diet quality. Each 5-point reduction in the index was associated with a 7% increase in cardiovascular and extremity events. When patients were divided into four groups based on their scores, those in the lowest quartile had a 27 percent increased risk of cardiovascular and extremity events compared with patients in the top quartile.
The excess risk correlates with a higher rate of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths. The data was also considered by observing what happened following the Mediterranean diet with the modified score (for example to allow its use in geographical areas that use less extra virgin olive oil). But in this case the full comfort of statistics has not been obtained. According to Wan, “this could be because the questionnaire did not contain all foods that characterize a Mediterranean diet, so a modified score had to be used.”
Heart disease, we learn to recognize the risk factors
Tips for a truly protective diet
Based on this research, what should we eat? The survey shows that “the emphasis should be shifted on improving the general quality of the diet rather than on specific types of food. However, it is suggested that a greater consumption of fruit, vegetables, nuts, foods rich in fiber, choice of white meat than to the red one and consumption of minimally processed foods”. In short, if you really don’t talk about Mediterranean food, it’s very close.
“We are facing yet another demonstration of the protective effect of the Mediterranean diet or rather, of diets which, like the Mediterranean, are characterized by an energy prevalence, even 80-85% from foods of plant origin (fresh fruit and nuts, vegetables, cereals, preferably wholemeal, legumes and vegetable fats and a minor energy intake from foods of animal origin, including preferably dairy products and fishery products, and less meat, especially if red and preserved) – Report Andrea Ghiselli, Director of the first level Master in Food Science and Applied Dietetics – Unitelma Sapienza. Furthermore, there are few processed foods which, even if they should be from plant sources, are richer in calories and poor in fiber. However, now we should begin to shift attention from molecules to foods and from these to the diet as a whole”.
Do not add salt to reduce the risk of heart attack and heart failure
by Federico Mereta
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