Earlier today I summarized the important new PREDIMED study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing the cardiovascular benefits of the Mediterranean diet. This study– a rare and much welcome instance of a large randomized controlled study of a diet powered to reach conclusions about important cardiovascular endpoints– has been widely praised and will undoubtedly have a major effect in the field of nutrition and will influence lots of people to adopt some form of a Mediterranean diet.
The study’s major potential weakness appears to be that the control group didn’t get a fair chance.
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Dean Ornish, probably the best-known and most passionate advocate of low-fat diets, goes much further in attacking the credibility of the trial…
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The really great thing about the Mediterranean diet, by contrast, is that we know with 100% certainty that it is possible for people to live and eat this way, since they’ve been doing so for millennia. It’s true, though, that the new study didn’t really demonstrate that the Mediterranean diet is better than a true low-fat diet. But it did demonstrate that a Mediterranean diet is healthier than what most people are currently eating. So it’s a good example of a real world trial.
…Now that the Spanish PREDIMED study has been published, I think it must be considered the gold standard. Now it is up to the AHA, and Ornish, to prove that their diets are better than, or even as good as, the Mediterranean diet.
Click here to read the complete story on Forbes.
I still believe that the Atkins’ Diet is the healthiest diet. About 18 years ago I weighed 220 lbs. at 6’2″. All high-carb diets failed me because the weight always returned. I read Dr. Atkins’ diet book and decided to try the diet with two modifications. [I took fiber supplements (psyllium, guar gum, wheat bran, and oat bran) and two Slow K tablets daily.] At the end of one year I lost 44 lbs. The weight has never returned. My cholesterol, HDL, and LDL are all normal.
In addition I use a lot of organic extra virgin olive oil regularly as well as organic coconut oil.
Ze’ev Ben-Dror, C.C.N.
Anti-Aging Agora
member, Life Extension Foundation
member, British Longevity Society