"mediterranean diet" news and stories

It seems obvious: eat healthy foods in moderation, drink in moderation, and maintain your weight. But it's not obvious, at least not to the vast majority of Americans who are overweight, and Dr. Tedd Goldfinger, a Cardiologist in Arizona, has the answer in a book called The Wine Lover's Healthy Weight Loss Plan (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).

I think a lot of other food lovers would agree with me when I say that dieting is boring and restrictive. It's like being told you can only play certain chords on the piano if you're a pianist, or that you have to run the same route every day if you're a jogger.

That's where Goldfinger's plan is genius: he offers a dieting solution in the Mediterranean diet, based on Italian, Greek, Provencal, and Spanish cuisines that's designed to pair with wine. The foods aren't just good for you, they're good too. Goldfinger channels the author of The French Paradox, Dr. Serge Renaud, who discovered how healthy the French are in spite of eating buttered croissants and foie gras. Why? Wine, of course.

Research seems to point out that children who eat a diet high in fruit, nuts, olive oil, and vegetables; basically a Mediterranean diet, may be less likely to develop allergies and asthma. The diet helped allergic rhinitis, asthma, and skin allergies. Children who ate nuts at least three times a week, as well as grapes, were less likely to have asthmatic symptoms. Interestingly, lots of margarine greatly increased asthma and allergic rhinitis.

Some of the experts and researchers feel that the enormous increase of asthma in developed countries is linked to eating less natural and fresh foods to fast foods the last few decades. Asthma rates have doubled in the last 20 years while there has been a decrease in important vitamins and minerals in children's diets. At the same time the consumption of fats in oils and processed foods has risen dramatically.

High consumption of a 'Mediterranean' diet consisting of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and olive oil had a positive effect, says a report by researchers from Crete, Britain and Spain. Eating oranges, apples, grapes, and tomatoes daily protected against wheezing and allergic rhinitis. Nuts were very beneficial, possibly because they contain vitamin E and high levels of magnesium, which may protect against asthma.

Also research at St George's Hospital Medical School in London found that healthy lung function was linked to high intake of vitamins C, E, beta-carotene, and citrus fruits, apples and fruit juice. High levels of antioxidants in the diet like C and E help people handle inflammatory lung disease better. Also it is possible that high intake of salt and fatty acids like those found in margarine could induce asthma.

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It's the eternal battle amongst dieters - low carb/no carb? lowfat/reduced fat? Low cal? There is a strong argument for every one.

According to the early findings of research that has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that compared people on lowfat diets versus people who follow a Mediterranean diet -- not "The" Mediterranean Diet, but "A" Mediterranean diet, the general term for a diet that includes large amounts of fat in the form of olive oil and tree nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts.

Though the complete study is not yet through its entire four years, participants so far who have been following Mediterranean lifestyles have experienced increases in HDL, decreases in LDL, and decreases in inflammation.

This is, of course, not new information, but encouraging for those of us who don't seem to find that lowfat diets work for our body types. Healthy or not healthy, it sure works for me, since Mediterreanan is in my top five cuisines!

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Turmeric and black currants have some company as foodstuffs that may help stave off Alzheimer's disease. The Mediterranean diet, with its high concentration of fruits, vegetables, grains, olive oil and fish has been touted since the 90s as heart healthy. Now a study from Columbia University says those who follow it have a 40 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's than those who eat a conventional American diet.

The study conducted by Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, is the first that links a mental benefit to the diet. Scarmeas says he can't pinpoint any particular food, but  thinks that the the diet's high level of antioxidant rich foods may hold the key. Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of cancer prevention and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, who himself adheres to the Mediterranean diet, and has also studied its benefits, points out that it includes  "moderate consumption of alcohol, usually in the form of wine during dinner."

[image: USA Swimming Foundation]

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