Med diet good for people with heart problems

The Mediterranean diet, already linked as a way to protect against heart disease, could help people with established heart problems says a population-based study from Greece.

The Med diet, rich in olive oil, fruit and vegetables and fish, has long been linked to lower incidence of heart disease, obesity and certain types of cancers. However, studies into the severity and prognosis of people with heart disease is lacking.

The new article, published on-line in the journal Nutrition (doi:10.1016/j.nut.2006.04.005), reports the results of the Greek Study of Acute Coronary Syndrome (GREECS) of 2172 patients (76 per cent men) who had been hospitalised with myocardial infarction (MI) or unstable angina (UA) and their adherence to the Mediterranean diet.

Dietary assessment was performed using validated, semi-quantitative 156-item food frequency questionnaires, and correlated to the Mediterranean diet using a 55-point scale. The higher the score, the closer to the Med diet.

Diet score was also linked to biological markers of heart disease and heart attack, such as cardiac troponin I, creatine phosphokinase, and creatine phosphokinase-MB, and an inverse association was observed.

Lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet, linked to younger patients, smokers, or people with a family history of coronary heart disease (CHD), was associated with a higher degree of severity of CHD.

“A five-unit increase in diet score [increased adherence to the Med diet] was associated with 15 per cent lower odds of having MI, after controlling for confounders,” said Greek researchers.