We’ve seen over and over again that the Mediterranean diet is associated with improved health over many systems, including the cardiovascular system, nervous system, and digestive system (just to name a few). Specifically here on this blog, we’ve seen studies showing that the Mediterranean diet is beneficial for reducing the
risk of depression in people with diabetes, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet results in a 23% reduced risk in developing Type 2 diabetes.
A new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology aimed to take the research on the Mediterranean diet and diabetes a step further, and examined the relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and mortality in people with diabetes.
1995 Italian adults with diabetes participated in this study. Food consumption habit information was collected by using self-reported questionnaires, after which results were given Greek Mediterranean Diet scores. Participants were followed for a total of 4 years.
Important Findings:
- After 4 years, 109 patients had died (51 of them due to cardiovascular factors).
- A 2 point increased in the Greek Mediterranean Diet Score was associated with an average 37% decrease in overall mortality in patients with diabetes.
- A similar association was found when only those with cardiovascular mortality were the focus of analysis.
- Adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet reduced the risk of death in diabetes patients.
- The individual factors in the Mediterranean diet that contributed to this decreased risk of death and overall mortality in diabetes patients were:
- Moderate alcohol consumption.
- High consumption of cereals.
- High consumption of vegetables.
- Reduced consumption of meat and dairy products.
Overall, the results of this study suggest that for those people with
diabetes, adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet reduces the risk of mortality and death. Specifically, moderate consumption of alcohol, as well as high consumption of cereal and vegetables and low consumption of meat and dairy products were all associated with this reduced risk of mortality and death in diabetes patients.
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