Metabolic syndrome can be reversed if a long time to observe a Mediterranean diet with a high content of olive oil and nuts, as reported by the Internet publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years Pannochka. net These are the conclusions of scientists from Spain, published in the journal Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by the presence of three or more risk factors for cardiovascular diseases or diabetes: abdominal obesity, hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia and high blood pressure.

In the US CDC, it is claimed that 34% of adults in the United States suffer from a metabolic syndrome. Most often this is due to constant overeating and low motor activity. A certain role is played also by genetic factors.

In the course of their research, scientists decided to test the effect of the Mediterranean diet on the metabolic syndrome. They say that the Mediterranean diet at the moment is "the most healthy dietary pattern".

This diet includes a large number of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts. Red meat is limited and the consumption of fish and poultry is 2-3 times a week. Harmful animal fats are replaced to the maximum by vegetable oil, primarily olive oil.

Mediterranean diet is extremely useful for health. In 2013, researchers reported that this nutrition plan helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in cardiac patients, and recently published data suggest that adherents of the Mediterranean diet are 15% less likely to be obese.

Mediterranean diet normalizes sugar and prevents abdominal obesity.

The authors of the last paper analyzed a large group of men and women aged 55-80 years who had an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. At the beginning of the study, 64% of participants had a metabolic syndrome. All of them entered the PREDIMED study, which studied the effect of the Mediterranean diet on the heart.

Participants were randomly divided into groups that followed three nutrition plans: a conventional low fat diet, a Mediterranean diet with nuts and a Mediterranean diet with an extra amount of olive oil. Observation continued on average 4.8 years.

The results showed that participants who adhered to a Mediterranean diet with nuts or with olive oil during the observation period decreased blood sugar levels and decreased stomach volume. Moreover, at the end of the study, only 28.2% of the participants who followed these nutrition plans had a metabolic syndrome - at the beginning of the study, there were 64%!.

Scientists commented on the results: "The Mediterranean diet, supplemented with olive oil, is not associated with a decrease in the frequency of the metabolic syndrome, when compared with a traditional low-fat diet.

Nevertheless, both diets lead to the reverse development of the already existing metabolic syndrome in a significant percentage of cases. Such nutrition plans can be useful in combating obesity and hyperglycemia in patients with high cardiovascular risk ".

This year, the medical publication MNT also reported that the Mediterranean diet, which contains a large number of leafy vegetables and olive oil, contributes to lowering blood pressure in people with hypertension.

medbe. en.