"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Study: Mediterranean, low-fat weight loss program is best for heart problems

March 30, 2023 – In individuals with heart and vascular problems, a Mediterranean or low-fat weight loss program may reduce the chance of early death and non-fatal heart attack, a brand new detailed study shows.

Published on Wednesday within the magazine BMJThe study analyzed data from 40 previous studies involving a complete of 35,548 participants. Participants either had heart problems or had at the least two risk aspects for it, corresponding to hypertension, diabetes, obesity or high cholesterol. The evaluation compared how well different diets protected people susceptible to heart problems in comparison with simply giving people a brochure about healthy eating.

The researchers said there have been “no convincing differences between the Mediterranean and low-fat” diets by way of whether one reduced the chance of death or the likelihood of a heart attack greater than the opposite. People at higher risk benefited most from the weight loss program.

The researchers defined a low-fat weight loss program as limiting fat intake to twenty to 30 percent of each day calories and saturated fat intake to lower than 10 percent of each day calories. The Mediterranean weight loss program was defined as eating a lot of fish, fruit, vegetables and monounsaturated fats corresponding to olive oil.

Participants on these two diets fared higher than those on five other diets, including diets that further reduced fat, restricted sodium intake, increased plant-based foods, or used a posh formula for a lot of predictable facets of food corresponding to carbohydrates, protein, and fiber. The names of the opposite diets studied were very low fat, modified fat, combined low fat and low sodium, Ornish, and Pritikin.

The other five diets “generally had little or no benefit compared to” handing out a brochure about healthy eating, the researchers wrote.

The researchers said their findings were essential because they only checked out data from randomized controlled trials, that are the gold standard in research design because participants in these trials cannot select whether or not they are in a treatment group or a control group. Randomized controlled trials are especially essential for locating out whether a treatment is effective and for ensuring the outcomes usually are not influenced by other aspects.