Indo-Mediterranean Diet Heart Study

Nonetheless, the inverse relationship between unsaturated fat and CVD is supported by the results from prospective cohort studies such as the Ireland-Boston Diet Heart Study (Kushi et al., 1985) and the Nurses Health Study (Hu et al., 1997) and long-term intervention studies such as the Los Angeles Veteran Study and the Finnish Mental Hospital Study (Dayton et al., 1965 Turpeinen et al., 1979). In the Indo-Mediterranean Diet Heart Study (Singh et al., 2002) and the Lyon Diet Heart Study (de Lorgeril et al., 1999), a diet high in unsaturated fat and complex carbohydrates were proven to be potent to reduce coronary events. It has been difficult to prove a clear relationship between saturated fat and future cardiovascular events in prospective cohort studies, and this is highlighted by the recent meta-analysis described below. 

Singh, R. B., Dubnov, G., Niaz, M. A., Ghosh, S., Singh, R., Rastogi, S. S., Manor, O., Pella, D., and Berry, E. M. (2002). Effect of an Indo-Mediterranean diet on progression of coronary artery disease in high risk patients (Indo-Mediterranean Diet Heart Study) A randomised single-blind trial. Lancet 360, 1455-1461. 

So does it mean that you must abandon those sorts of preferences in order to benefit your blood pressure readings Must you eat nothing but Greek food as prepared on the shores of the Mediterranean to follow a Mediterranean diet Nothing could be further from the truth. One scientific investigation, for example, was titled the Indo-Mediterranean Diet Heart Study, reflecting the... 

The antiarrhythmic effects of n-3 fatty acids are supported by clinical intervention trials (Diet and Reinfarction Trial (DART), Lyon Heart Study, Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Soprawivenza nellTnfarto miocardico (GlSSI)-Prevenzione Trial, Indo-Mediterranean Diet Heart Study). Their results strongly support the role of fish or fish oil in decreasing total mortality and sudden death in patients with one episode of myocardial infarction. Therefore, the addition of 1 g/d of n-3 fatty acids is highly recommended for the primary and secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. 

In the Lyon Diet Heart Study, survivors of myocardial infarctions on a Mediterranean style diet rich in ALA were less likey to experience a second episode (de Lorgeril et al., 1994). These researchers reported that nonfatal myocardial infarctions and total death in subjects on the experimental and control diets were reduced by 75% and 70%, respectively. Fewer nonfatal myocardial infarctions also were reported in subjects consuming an Indo-Mediterranean diet rich in ALA (Singh et al., 2002). The Nurse s Health Study (Albert et al., 2004) also showed that diets rich in ALA reduce the risk of dying from coronary heart disease. The study was a 16-year followup involving approximately 76,000 women. Women on the highest ALA (1.5 g/day) diet had a 21% and 46%, respectively, lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease or sudden cardiac death compared to women on a 0.7 g ALA/day diet. 

The results of the Lyon Heart Study and the Indo-Mediterranean Diet Study are compatible with a large observational study, the Greece EPIC cohort, which demonstrates that the reduction in overall mortality is associated with increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet [49],... 

Clinical trials involving mixed nuts have been conducted in six countries Australia, Canada, Israel, India, New Zealand, and the United States [61-67]. In the studies that reported blood lipid values, the nut diets significantly reduced total cholesterol from 7% to 25% and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by 10%-33%. No studies found any significant effect on HDL cholesterol, and two found a significant decrease in triacylglycerols (TAG) [63,66]. Furthermore, both the Lyon Heart Study and the Indo-Mediterranean Diet Study showed a decrease in overall mortality and cardiovascular mortality [45,46]. 

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