Bust out the olive oil,Movies fruits and veggies -- turns out eating a Mediterranean diet could help save lives.
Results of a new study performed in Norfolk, England suggested that following a Mediterranean diet could prevent over 19,000 deaths a year in the UK.
Though health benefits associated with Mediterranean diets in the Mediterranean region are well-known, this study sought to establish whether the diet could improve health if it were to be adopted by people living in other areas, such as the U.K.
The study, published in the journal of BMC Medicineon Thursday, gathered data on eating habits of around 24,000 people in Norfolk for 12 to 17 years, beginning in the 1990s. The researchers ultimately found that 12.5 percent of heart attack and stroke-related deaths that occurred in the UK could have been prevented by dietary changes, if their findings are generalizable across the UK population and the assumption of a diet-driven causality of heart attacks and strokes is correct.
The study therefore suggests, but does not conclusively find, that a whopping 19,375 deaths could be preventable in the UK if people were to adhere more closely to the Mediterranean diet.
Though the word "diet" often leads to thoughts of sacrificing beloved foods, the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid shows that you can still eat some of your favorite foods daily, like bread, for example. People who follow this food regimen can also eat sweets, starches and meats in moderation, and even enjoy an occasional glass of wine.
Researchers made use of the pyramid's guidelines during the study to determine a points system for each food family. Once they determined the top possible score was a diet containing 15 Mediterranean elements, they noticed that the maximum score amongst study participants was 13.1 and the lowest was 3.
After looking at additional factors such as smoking, weight and physical activity, they determined that people who incorporated more Mediterranean diet elements into their lives were less likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease.
Nita Forouhi, an author of the study from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, confirmed that adopting the eating habits of the Mediterranean diet has its health benefits. Forouhi told The Telegraph: "Encouraging greater adoption of the Mediterranean diet looks like a promising component of a wider strategy to help prevent cardiovascular disease, including other important factors such as not smoking and maintaining a healthy weight, blood cholesterol and blood pressure."
Ian Johnson, a nutrition researcher and emeritus fellow at the Institute of Food Research who was not involved in the new study, told The Telegraph, "This is a careful and rigorous study showing a relatively small but potentially important association between higher adherence to a Mediterranean style diet and reduced risk of incident heart disease, and death from heart disease."
PSA: 'The Handmaid's Tale' creator wants you to vote in the midtermsThe air quality in India is unacceptably bad. Here's why.Google Chrome has a new plan to fight shady adsNintendo will cut offensive imagery from 'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'Bill Gates just brought a jar of poop on stage — for a very good reasonWhat critics thought of 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald'Initiative Q is just a clever marketing ploy until proven otherwiseBrutal laser tag saga tells of kids vs. grown ups in a Yelp reviewWelsh girl perfectly sums up the dark irony of the internet in 2 imagesAdele kissed a dog wearing an Adele shirt while onstageWaymo blames collision with motorcycle on human error, not AI'World of Warcraft Classic' is super slow, but that has its benefitsFacebook's Portal speaker is now for sale and it definitely won't spy on youFacebook admits it didn't do enough to prevent 'offline violence' in MyanmarHublot's new watch is a perfect fit for Bitcoin millionairesHow 'Homecoming' uses real events to heighten its horrorHow 'Homecoming' uses real events to heighten its horrorChina's stateStudents stage nationwide walkout for Election Day'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' is out of magic: Review The One Who Happened by Xi Chuan Redux: Naked Lightbulb by The Paris Review On John Prine, Ferrante's Feminisms, and Paterson by The Paris Review Remembering Richard Howard by Craig Morgan Teicher Redux: The Poet’s Nerve by The Paris Review Cooking with Sergei Dovlatov by Valerie Stivers Photographic Neuroses: Alec Soth's A Pound of Pictures by Gideon Jacobs Rita Bullwinkel, Fiction by Rita Bullwinkel We Need the Eggs: On Annie Hall, Love, and Delusion by Sheila Heti Mathematics of Brutality by The Paris Review Diary, 2022 by Catherine Lacey Crush by Kathryn Davis Ina Cariño, Poetry by Ina Cariño By Your Name by Madeleine Schwartz Nana Nkweti, Fiction by Nana Nkweti Redux: Conceptual Baggage by The Paris Review Tricks, Tension, Surface, Suspense by Andrew Norman Wilson Diary, 2008 by Annie Redux: The Marketing of Obsession by The Paris Review Diary, 2010 by Adam Levin