The Mediterranean Diet consists of low meat intake, moderate intake of alcohol (wine) and dairy products (sheep’s milk products), and high intake of fruits, nuts, vegetables (primarily greens), cereals/grains, and fish (small fish like sardines, high in omega 3′s), and flavoring foods with herbs, spices and natural sea salt. The researchers found dose-response relationships for:

Olive Oil Benefits More Than The Heart

1. fruits and nuts
2. monounsaturated-to-saturated fats ratio
3. legume (beans) intake

The higher the intake of fruits, nuts, monounsaturated fats (olive oil) and beans – The more profound the beneficial results were.

Archives of General Psychiatry 2009;66:1090-1098.

ADDITIONAL: E-mail to Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas MD one of the foremost researchers into the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet.

Dr. Scarmeas,

I just read your study in JAMA, very nice! I have a Integrative medicine practice in southern California for twenty years now and advocate that my clients follow a Mediterranean Diet. I have followed this way of eating for over twenty years and at 45 I have ideal blood markers.

My question is this: what do you feel is the most important aspect (most profound physiological benefits) of the Mediterranean diet?

Is it the red wine (polyphenols, especially resveratrol and its ability to increase NO synthase?)
or
Is it olive oil and omega 3’s from the fish and almonds?
or
Does the diet itself inhibit/reduce inflammatory cytokines, reducing the incidence of cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s?
or
?

I would really appreciate any insight you can share.

Thank you in advance.

Marcus Ettinger

Reply (brief but to the point):

Dear Dr Ettinger.

We are investigating some of it. Currently it is not clear. It may be a combination of all the above – biological synergy. Physical activity seems equally important.

Thank you for your interest.

Note:

Below is a paragraph from my post on The True Cause of Alzheimer’s? The deficiencies that may predispose one to developing this terrible disease can be corrected by following a Mediterranean Diet and engaging in regular exercise, throughout one’s life.

“My thought’s on predisposing/contributing factors for developing Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia: A severe lack of vitamin D, magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids (EPA/DHA), fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, exercise, chiropractic adjustments, continual engagement in intellectual activities (chess, crossword puzzles, social interaction…) and prolonged smoking.”

Mediterranean Diet

Since high blood pressure is, for the majority of those who suffer from it, self created, following this simple plan can reverse the factors that created it.

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan has been researched and proven to lower blood pressure in only 14 days. Those who will experience the best results are people whose blood pressure was only moderately high, including those with prehypertension(1). For those of you with more severe hypertension and may not be able to eliminate medication, the DASH diet can help to improve your response to medication, and at the same time it will help lower blood pressure. The DASH diet can also aid in lowering cholesterol levels, raise HDL’s and if with a little exercise added in, weight reduction will be seen allow with a reduction in insulin resistance.

Most of you reading this will easily admit that this seems like a very healthy way of eating, but initially when implemented may find it hard to sustain. The truth is that the average American only eats 2 – 3 servings of fruits and vegetables combined each day, so following the DASH diet may involve making a determined effort.

The best part of eating this way is that you will be reducing your chances of developing degenerative diseases, cancers or autoimmune diseases. Also this is a preventive diet against weight gain, obesity and diabetes.

Some helpful tips for lowering your blood pressure and following the DASH diet

1. Eating fewer processed foods, such as snack items, luncheon meats, and canned soups, will reduce the amount of sodium in your diet and help you lower your blood pressure.
2. A diet high in calcium, potassium, and magnesium (fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of this nutrients) may lower your blood pressure.
3. A diet high in sodium may cause high blood pressure.
4. DASH recommends that you eat 8 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables and 3 servings of low-fat dairy products each day.
5. Eating a diet low in both saturated fat and total fat will also help lower your blood pressure. Only 30% (I recommend using olive oil as your fat source) of your total calories should be from fat, with only 7% to 10% of
   your fat calories from saturated fat. Saturated fat is found in meats, cheeses, butter, poultry, snack foods, and other processed foods.
6. In general, vegetarian (Mediterranean diet) diets reduce blood pressure. The DASH diet could easily be a vegetarian diet if legumes were substituted for meat. Vegetarian diets tend to be higher in potassium, magnesium, and calcium, as is the DASH diet. Vegetarian diets also are higher in fiber and unsaturated fat than other diets.
7. Controlling your weight, increasing your physical activity, and reducing sodium in your diet will help reduce your blood pressure even more when combined with the DASH diet. More information here: Mediterranean Diet Helps Prevent Depression.

(1). Prehypertension is considered to be blood pressure readings with a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg. Readings greater than or equal to 140/90 mm Hg are considered hypertension.

Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc

In the first study, researcher W. Elaine Hardman, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at Marshall University School of Medicine in Huntington, W.Va., credits the disease-fighting omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and in particular, phytosterols, in the walnuts for creating the cancer inhibiting environment.

The study also suggested that if you have breast cancer, walnuts may help to limit tumor growth and may even prevent breast cancer for occurring in the first place.  Just two, one ounce servings of walnuts (14 whole walnuts) a day may keep the doctor and breast cancer away.

In the second study, researchers at The School of Public Health at Yale University studied more than 500 women with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.  At the time of their initial diagnosis, the women were asked a battery of questions regarding their alcohol consumption: whether they drank, what they drank, how much they drank, and for how long they had been drinking. Then they were followed for eight to 12 years.

“We found that wine had a protective effect,” says Xuesong Han, a doctoral candidate in cancer epidemiology.”  Among the findings the researchers found that almost three-fourths of women who drank at least 12 glasses of wine over their lifetime were alive five years after diagnosis, compared with two-thirds of those who never drank wine.  Thirty-five percent of those who never drank relapsed within five years vs. 30% of those who drank wine.

Han said, “the longer a woman drank, the lower the chance she would suffer a relapse or die within five years of diagnosis.” Patients who had been drinking wine for at least 25 years prior to diagnosis were 26% less likely to relapse or develop a secondary cancer and 33% less likely to die over the five-year period, compared with non-wine drinkers.

Additional: Richard A. Baxter, MD, a plastic surgeon in Seattle and the author of Age Gets Better with Wine says, “The latest anti-aging weapon is not an injection or a wonder cream, and it doesn’t involve any nipping or tucking either. It’s a glass of red wine a day for women and two for men.” Quoted from a lecture given at the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in Washington, D.C., April 27, 2010

Personal Comment: As far as I am concerned, cancer is not a disease per say but a set of symptoms caused by an underlying nutritional deficiency, just a scurvy is a set of symptoms caused by a severe vitamin C deficiency. “Prevention is the only true cure for cancer.” Billions of dollars have been raised in the name of cancer research and billions more spent on medical treatment, but a mere fraction has been raised for the study of the real and only cure, prevention.  It is our diet, lifestyle and lack or preventative medicine/diagnostics that precipitates the right environment for cancer development.  As single units, wine or walnuts are at best weak treatments for cancer but work their true magic as part of  a comprehensive cancer prevention diet; like the Mediterranean diet.  The Mediterranean Diet, rich in omega fatty acids, fruits, vegetables, nuts, lean meats and wine is a perfect example of a cancer prevention diet, and the statistics prove it.  The above two studies just validate this point further.

Dr. Marcus Ettinger has been in practice, in orange county, for just over 21 years.  Dr. Ettinger is a “21st Century Medical Detective”, Holistic and Integrative Medicine Expert, and Dynamic Orange County Chiropractor.