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Mediterranean diet is good for the heart. For women, Australian scientists have now statistically clearly proven this fact with an analysis of 16 studies with 722,500 participants. The analysis was recently published in the medical journal “Heart”.
There had previously been repeated indications of a prophylactic effect of a Mediterranean diet. However, most of the corresponding studies had relatively few women as participants, which limited the meaningfulness for this group of people.
fewer deaths
The figures presented showed a 24 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Coronary heart disease (heart attack, angina pectoris, etc.) occurred 25 percent less frequently with a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil and fish (little red meat, sausage, sweets). This was also reflected in a significantly lower overall mortality (all causes; minus 23 percent). The frequency of strokes was 13 percent lower.
“The study demonstrates the positive effect of a Mediterranean diet for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and death in women and could be an important step for gender-specific guidelines,” the experts wrote in the abstract of their study.
The Austrian figures also show how important that would be. Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in women in Austria. In 2021, 35.7 percent of all female deaths were due to cardiovascular disease. For men, this proportion was significantly lower at 32.9 percent.
Source: Nachrichten
