Women who exchange their usual diet to a diet of Mediterranean-type double their consumption of fruits and vegetables and eat more fat “healthy”. The new apology for the Mediterranean diet has been published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

The U.S. study looked at 69 women divided into two groups: dietitians have advised women of the first group on the Mediterranean diet, particularly composed of fruits and vegetables, and the recommended quantity of products consumed, using a “list equivalents “with food often found in the Mediterranean model.

They were designed for each program, which contained the same amount of calories of fat consumed that these women before the study.

The “exchange list” included dietary advice, or equivalent possible for several categories of food – such as green vegetables (eg spinach), or mono-unsaturated fats (eg olive oil). The women in this first group had access to telephone support from a dietician and attended two face-to-face with the dietitians. The women of the second group, cons, have followed their regular diet and received no nutritional advice.

Compared to women in the second group, which have little changed their diets, those of the first group have accomplished the objectives of the Mediterranean model in three months, and maintained changes in their diet throughout the six-month study.

“The results indicate that the list of equivalent food has helped women make tremendous changes in their diet, without changing the amount of consumption of calories and fat,” confirms Zora Djuric, lead author of the study and Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan.

Professor Zora Djuric is conducting another study on the protective effects of Mediterranean diet against colon cancer, particularly among people at high risk. It is possible that this diet also protects against other cancers.

The Mediterranean diet is associated in addition to other attractive benefits to health such as reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Recent studies suggest that Europeans who follow a traditional pattern of Mediterranean diet could increase their life expectancy.

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