Best to Eat Like the Greeks After Heart Disease
(NY, Reuters Health, 4/26/05)

Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou of Athens Medical School in Greece and Harvard University in Boston, and associates, tracked 1,302 Greek adults who had been diagnosed with heart disease. The team used a ten-point scale to rate how closely the subjects followed a Mediterranean-style diet, which is high in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and fish and low in saturated fats. The investigators found that the more closely the subjects adhered to the diet, the less likely they were to die during the four year follow-up period. The scientists note that no one component of the diet protects health more than the others, but rather that the diet seems to act as an “integral entity.” These findings suggest that the traditional Mediterranean foods in the diet may contain compounds with health promoting properties.

(Archives of Internal Medicine, April 25, 2005)