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The Mediterranean diet is described in the study as “high in unprocessed plant foods” like vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, grains. It involves moderate fish intake and is low on processed meat, dairy and other animal fats, with “the main source of dietary fat” coming from extra virgin olive oil used in cooking.
“So thisreally confirmed that a [Mediterranean] diet was equallybeneficial in women as it has been known to be in men,“Sarah Zaman, one of the authors of the report, told9 News Melbourne.
Researchers at the University of Sydney said in the report that though they were able to demonstrate an association between the Mediterranean diet and lower risk of coronary heart disease, further research would need to be done to determine whether the Mediterranean diet could also impact stroke or “specific cardiovascular risk factors, menopausal status and ethnicity.”
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Victoria Taylor, a senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation told theWashington Postthat “sex-specific research like this isvital for reducing the heart diseasegender gap and improving women’s care.”
“It’s long been known that eating a Mediterranean-style is good for your heart, but it’s encouraging to see this research suggest that when we look at women separately from men, the benefits remain,” Taylor added.
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Heart disease is theleading cause of death for women in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. The agency said over 60 million women in the U.S. are living with some sort of heart disease and that it was responsible for the death of 1 out of 5 women in 2020, or 314,186 women.
source: people.com
