{"id":38997,"date":"2014-12-22T15:03:28","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T09:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=38997"},"modified":"2015-05-11T17:05:46","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T11:35:46","slug":"why-mediterranean-diet-is-good-for-your-heart-and-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/india\/why-mediterranean-diet-is-good-for-your-heart-and-brain","title":{"rendered":"Why Mediterranean Diet Is Good for Your Heart and Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mediterranean<\/a>Recently, several scientific studies extolled the virtues of consuming a Mediterranean diet.\u00a0 Apparently the heart and brain health of subjects who ate Mediterranean diet significantly improved as compared to those who consumed usual diet.<\/p>\n

Just to quote a few examples, in 2013 a Spanish study entitled PREDIMED followed up a group comprising those who took the Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts, and compared them with those who took usual diet for a period of about five years.\u00a0 Those in the study group suffered less cardiovascular adverse events than in the other group.<\/p>\n

There have been similar studies done in 2014 which looked at the association between the diet and the incidence of diabetes, peripheral vascular disease and even renal diseases, and concluded that the diet reduced the occurrence of these conditions.<\/p>\n

For those of you who are unaware, the Mediterranean countries are those that lie around the periphery of the Mediterranean Sea, which is a vast body of water between Europe, North Africa and southwestern Asia.\u00a0 Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Spain, Croatia, Greece and Malta are a few of the 21 countries that ring the sea.\u00a0 The sea is strategically located \u2013 connecting many lands and bodies of water, including the Atlantic Ocean \u2013 and is blessed with salubrious weather and a rich marine biodiversity. It is home to as many as 700 species of fish, sponges, corals and areas of oil and natural gas.\u00a0 Shark, goby, eel, mackerel, sea bass, sea bream, mullet and sprat are some of the marine species found in its waters.<\/p>\n

Mediterranean ingredients<\/strong><\/p>\n

If one looks at the list of ingredients used in the cuisine of the Mediterranean countries \u2013 many of these ingredients were also included in some of the scientific studies \u2013 it would be clear as to why the diet is increasingly being recognised as a healthier option.\u00a0 As pointed out by Anthony Komaroff, the Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Health Publications, in the PREDIMED study volunteers were given the following dietary advice:<\/p>\n