Mediterranean Diet Cuts Heart Disease Risk, Massive Study Finds

[TotallyOz]

About 30 percent of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease can be prevented in people at high risk if they switch to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables, and even drink wine with meals, a large and rigorous new study has found.

 

The findings, published on The New England Journal of Medicine’s Web site on Monday, were based on the first major clinical trial to measure the diet’s effect on heart risks. The magnitude of the diet’s benefits startled experts. The study ended early, after almost five years, because the results were so clear it was considered unethical to continue.

 

The diet helped those following it even though they did not lose weight and most of them were already taking statins, or blood pressure or diabetes drugs to lower their heart disease risk.

 

“Really impressive,” said Rachel Johnson, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. “And the really important thing — the coolest thing — is that they used very meaningful endpoints. They did not look at risk factors like cholesterol or hypertension or weight. They looked at heart attacks and strokes and death. At the end of the day, that is what really matters.”

 

Until now, evidence that the Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of heart disease was weak, based mostly on studies showing that people from Mediterranean countries seemed to have lower rates of heart disease — a pattern that could have been attributed to factors other than diet.

 

For full article:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/health/mediterranean-diet-can-cut-heart-disease-study-finds.html?hp

[Guest thaiworthy]

I have come to one conclusion after reading about so many diets. First, they all have one thing in common. The caveman diet, the Mediterranean diet, the Vegan diet, all espouse the belief that processed foods do you a great deal of harm. Take them away and eat natural foods and the healthful benefits kick in. Maybe the one simple truth among all of them is not whether you eat meat or not, or not if you take in too much oil or not, but the deletion of all processed foods from your diet.

 

That is what I believe now. Easy to say, not so easy to do, considering I love pasta, which is processed. Yes, you can buy high-fiber, low-carb pasta, but it is still processed. Complex carbohydrates are the secret ingredients that will restore health and vigor. If you can do at least that much, you'll be way ahead. Generally, if a food comes in a box, don't eat it. In Thailand, you can't see the list of ingredients anyway, unless you can read Thai. And even if you can, or it is clearly in English, places like Tesco Lotus slap a sticker on top the panel with all this information obstructed. Don't get me started!

 

KISS! (Keep it simple, stupid) Leave the boxes on the shelves and loiter in the produce department for as long as it takes to make up your damn mind.

 

But I'm still not eating Durian.

[Guest fountainhall]

The surprising thing is that little of this is hard news! We've been hearing for seeming ages that olives/olive oil, fish, fruit and vegetables are great for our health, and nuts good for the digestive system. Similarly a glass or two of wine - although I thought it had to be red wine which is not specificied in the study.
 
Note, though, that picking and choosing isn't an option -
 

 

Dr. Estruch said he thought the effect of the Mediterranean diet was due to the entire package, not just the olive oil or nuts.

 

So those cocktail processed peanuts with your martini are probably doing you as much harm as the gin or vodka.    Ouch! Clearly, I'd better get my will up to date!

[KhorTose]

i also think from personal experience that being a nut is as good as eating them.  Not taking yourself that seriously and having a sense of humor is definitely the formula for a long life.

[Guest fountainhall]

Not taking oneself "that seriously" and having a sense of humour are as key ingredients in the cocktail of life as the gin or the vodka, I reckon. But there are times, as some posters have experienced (indeed more than one on this thread), when a sense of humour can be pushed too far and a hearty laugh cannot resolve a conflict. Surely as important, therefore, is the balance we choose to maintain between playful banter and serious argument on the one hand and integrity on the other. When that balance becomes too one-sided, usually something gives.

[Rogie]

For about a year I've been using 'cold-pressed' rapeseed oil instead of olive oil. It's a controversial oil in Britain with a chequered history and seems to polarise opinion. So far it seems ok but I haven't used it much lately for various reasons, whereas I used to use a lot of olive oil. I believe in north America it was known as canola oil. Many people in Britain don't like rapeseed and regard the vast fields of yellow as a blot on the landscape - others living in the country complain it gives them hay fever. I think I will continue using it as an experiment for the time being. I admit one reason for switching, other than for its supposed superior balance of omega fats, is because it's a British product. I'm snubbing a true Mediterranean product in favour of some snotty northern European upstart.

 

Back to the original article in the NYT, I see a couple of experts are extremely sceptical, favouring variations on a vegan diet. I just hope they are wrong, so I am rooting for the Med. diet to be the winner as it appeals to me many orders of magnitude more than an austere vegan one.

[Guest thaiworthy]

I had never heard of rapeseed oil until I looked it up. I actually thought you meant to type grapeseed oil, which I have used and I am more familiar with. But here it is, in agonizing detail:
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed
 

Back to the original article in the NYT, I see a couple of experts are extremely sceptical, favouring variations on a vegan diet. I just hope they are wrong, so I am rooting for the Med. diet to be the winner as it appeals to me many orders of magnitude more than an austere vegan one.

 

Vegan eating isn't easy, especially in Thailand. I think the study found agreement among all the experts to avoid processed meats altogether.

[KhorTose]

Hey, you are in Thailand and in luck.  While many things are made or cooked with terribly bad for you palm Oil in this country, they do have an oil that compares with olive oil and Canola Oil in healthy fats.  Go to wiki and check out Rice Bran Oil.  Unlike olive oil, you can cook with it and it is both healthy and good for you---some studies say better then olive oil.  Wish they had it in the USA

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_bran_oil

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/RiceBranOil.htm

[Guest fountainhall]

I had never heard of Rice Bran Oil till I was in a hotel lobby waiting for someone and picked up a magazine. In it was an article about a very handsome guy Pita Limjaroenrat. He was studying at the Sloan School of Management when his father suddenly died. As it was at the time of the coup, he was unable to rush back, but made it in time for the funeral.

There he met a host of prominent bankers who, after expressing their sincere condolences (really sincere, I wonder?), then just happened to mention that his father owed them around Bt. 100 million. They expected this to be repaid soon!

Khun Pita had no idea that his father had begun the process of setting up a manufacturing plant for rice bran oil. Whilst the factory and equipment and the staff were there, nothing else was! And no-one knew how to make or market the product.

It was a fast learning curve for Khun Pita. Last year the company had a sales target of Bt. 1.6 billion with 30% in exports. The goal is for Bt. 20 billion by 2020. In addition to the vegetable oil, it is used in popular health snack foods and in skin care products.

This is from an older article in The Nation.
 

 

Pita differs from those who want to make Thailand the "kitchen of the world". Instead, he said, Thailand should try to increase demand for its rice-bran oil to the level enjoyed by global coffee brand Starbucks.

"Successfully creating such global demand will create real value-added for Thai products and supply-chain businesses, instead of simply supplying raw materials."

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/CEO-Agrifood-chief-fulfils-fathers-rice-bran-oil-v-30172211.html

[Rogie]

I have come to one conclusion after reading about so many diets. First, they all have one thing in common. The caveman diet, the Mediterranean diet, the Vegan diet, all espouse the belief that processed foods do you a great deal of harm. Take them away and eat natural foods and the healthful benefits kick in. Maybe the one simple truth among all of them is not whether you eat meat or not, or not if you take in too much oil or not, but the deletion of all processed foods from your diet.

 

 

 

The recent horsemeat scandal in Britain and some other European countries has made most people sit bolt upright and question the quality of the food they eat. There's nothing wrong in horsemeat, if that's what you really want to eat, and many countries have a tradition of eating it, although we in Britain do not. The problem is that the horsemeat has been found in cheap ready meals, the kind where the manufacturer is working to a budget set by the retailer. Some of these meat products are very cheap costwise and so corners have been cut, supply lines may become long and convoluted that's made it difficult to accredit exactly who's done what.

 

I've decided to cut down on products where the meat is of variable quality and difficult to verify. I long ago stopped eating cheap and nasty sausages, although as the occasional thread on where can you get a good breakfast? will testify I am not alone in singling out the humble sausage as the main culprit in most fry-up breakfasts. Things like meatballs, tinned meats and ready meals such as lasagne and spag bol have been under the spotlight, and as one might imagine the easiest meat products for a fraudster to target are exactly the ones where the meat content is either a very low percentage of the meal (such as cheap lasagnes) or mixed in with other non-meat ingredients.

 

So I am in agreement with Thaiworthy here. Processed meats and meals in general are often, sorry to say it, muck. I'm sure there are exceptions, maybe such as those very expensive meats you see in some delis - the posh Italian and German sausages but I haven't much experience of those.

[TotallyOz]

And yet another article on this study. A worthwhile read:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/dining/when-diet-meets-delicious-the-mediterranean-approach.html?src=dayp&_r=0

 

My doctor told me I had to loose 100 pounds this year and I'm working on it. I am doing this slowly this time and not so drastic although I have a few "events" planned for the year.

 

I am headed to Brazil for one month and it has been 3 weeks with no caffeine, no junk food, no meats, etc. It was a hard 3 weeks but I play to keep the soda at bay on the trip but I love the meats in Brazil and sure I'll be back eating dead animals (as my family of vegans call them). But, I'll keep eating the veggies and fruits as I have been. It has been a hard 3 weeks but I feel better and healthier and hope I can make it on my airplane in 1 hour for a 14 hour trip with no soda!

[Guest]

The way to lose weight is to work out where all the calories come from, then permanently change diet to eliminate the worst offenders.  Temporary initiatives get temporary results.

 

Soda? Is that for drinking?  Delete permanently, substitute water......

[Guest thaiworthy]

Soda? Is that for drinking?  Delete permanently, substitute water......

 

Absolutely! Anyone thinking diet soda instead? Think again! Here are the 7 deadly consequences in that can of diet pop:

 

• Kidney problems

• Messed up metabolism

• Obesity

• A terrible hangover

• Cell damage

• Rotting teeth

• Reproductive issues

 

The artificial sweetener used in diet sodas is just one molecule away from real sugar. Your body doesn't know what to do with it!

 

Obesity

You read that right: Diet soda doesn't help you lose weight after all. A University of Texas Health Science Center study found that the more diet sodas a person drank, the greater their risk of becoming overweight. Downing just two or more cans a day increased waistlines by 500%. Why? Artificial sweeteners can disrupt the body's natural ability to regulate calorie intake based on the sweetness of foods, suggested an animal study from Purdue University. That means people who consume diet foods might be more likely to overeat, because your body is being tricked into thinking it's eating sugar, and you crave more.

 

http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/2012/10/19/14543969-diet-soda-is-doing-these-7-awful-things-to-your-body?lite%3Focid=twitter

[ceejay]

 

the posh Italian and German sausages

There's an old Schwabian saying, that I was taught by a German colleague many years ago:

 

"There are two things no man ever knows, what's in the mind of a woman and what's in a liver sausage"

[KhorTose]

The way to lose weight is to work out where all the calories come from, then permanently change diet to eliminate the worst offenders.  Temporary initiatives get temporary results.

 

Soda? Is that for drinking?  Delete permanently, substitute water......

Listen it is boring, but that what Z talks about has been my answer.  I eat the same things for breakfast and lunch every day with small variations.  Been doing this for seven months now.  As of today 181 down from 259,  Once or twice a week I allow myself a big meal, but the rest of the week I am always under 1000 calories a day and often around 800+ or -

 

However, i do drink way too much diet coke as it fills me up. I try to brush my teeth often.

[KhorTose]

delete

[Guest thaiworthy]

I like this graphic:

 

[Bob]

Egads, a bunch of health nuts.  How about a banana split (substituting the banana slices with a couple of Twinkies, of course)?

 

Khun Khortose, as he mentions, is shrinking away to nothing.  I told him a few months ago that the day that he weighed less than me, I would have to kill myself.  I now must renege on that promise. 

[Guest thaiworthy]

Egads, a bunch of health nuts.  How about a banana  . . .

 

[KhorTose]

Yes, as Bob and TW point out Bananas are good for yout.  Many calories, but good.  However, if the banana is very black the very best way to eat it is in some pancake flour (with non-fat milk) cooked on a hot dry grill.  Banana pancakes are both very sweet and delicious and really require no or little butter and/or sugerless syrup

 

Bob,  I willing to let you off the hook about killing yourself if I weigh less then you do, but your BF thinks you should keep your word or you and he will lose face.  Sounds like the same domestic problem I have with mine.  Every time I tell him how much longer I am going to live now that I've lost all that weight, he tells me to eat and brings home ice cream.  Must be a Thai thing.

[Guest abang1961]

101 ways on how to feel and stay younger...

Go find a younger and more energetic Thai or Asian man.

 

Due to the genetic composition, Asians are known to hold back the years better.

Even to me, most Thai boys look at least 5 years off their actual age because of their smaller bone structure.

Some of them are so lean/fit, I look like a giant next to them (sigh)

 

 

 

I admire the Thai diet - have anyone notice the FREE plate of vegetables on the table?

Another thing is that for the ordinary Thai, they eat very little processed food.

Everything is either fresh, sun-dried or slightly fermented.

That is very little contamination with chemicals, additives and/or preservatives.

 

 

I like bananas - I normally could have 2 to 3 at one go..especially, the slightly over-ripe type.

I avoid too much meat nowadays - simple dishes of stir-fry is sufficient to please me.

[Guest fountainhall]

Due to the genetic composition, Asians are known to hold back the years better.

 

I agree with you re most Asians in their 20s, 30s and perhaps early 40s. I hope I'm not offending anyone, but I do find that many Thais, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc. quickly catch up and then start looking a bit older than their ages thereafter. Mind you, pot-bellied, cigarette-smoking farangs by that age are no spring chickens either!

 

I like bananas - I normally could have 2 to 3 at one go.

 

Now you fed us that line beautifully, abang  . No doubt you like the extra large ones 

[Guest abang1961]

One of the things I observed about straight Asian men..

Once they crossed that 35, the majority are probably married and/or had become fathers to their children.

That is the time when they neglect themselves.

They let the body goes ....horizontally.

 

 

But gay men are slightly different.

We don't have the same marital issues like heterosexuals.

We don't have to worry about kid's education and thereafter, a series of growth-related issues.

 

 

Every cent we earn goes to us, and us alone.

Suddenly advertisers and retailers are chasing after the pink dollar - from car adverts to accommodations.

We would not think twice to buy that expensive cosmetic/tonic/health product/supplement....

We do some form of exercise so as to maintain our external beauty (or what left of it).

 

 

To each his own.

Barring the metrosexuals (straight man who look after their grooming), gay men works extremely hard to hold back the years.

I may be an old relic next to the young and juicy young Thai boy/man, I think I still command some attention, right?

[Guest fountainhall]

I think I still command some attention, right?

 

You are indeed an exception (even with your liking for 2 or 3 bananas - at the same time???) 

[Guest abang1961]

You are indeed an exception (even with your liking for 2 or 3 bananas - at the same time???) 

Exception ..how I wish....to be a slim Thai man..

I always wonder what those Thai men eat... how can they ever fit into those traffic police (brown) uniform?

I won't be able to wear XL in Thailand.. cos they are still small for me ...