Mediterranean-Style Diet Improves Heart Function, Twin Study Shows

[Elmore Furth]

ScienceDaily (June 16, 2010) — A study of twins shows that even with genes that put them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, eating a Mediterranean-style diet can improve heart function, according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

Eating a Mediterranean-style diet -- one characterized by low saturated fats and high in fish, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, cereals and moderate alcohol consumption -- reduces a person's heart disease risk. But until now, the way the diet helps reduce the risk of coronary disease remains unknown.

Among the study's key findings:

•Measurements of HRV showed that the higher a person's diet score, the more variable the heart beat-to-beat time interval -- 10 percent to 58 percent (depending on the HRV measure considered) for men in the top Mediterranean diet score quarter compared to those in the lowest quarter; this equates to a 9 percent to 14 percent reduction in heart-related death.

•Genetic influence on HRV frequency ranged from 20 percent -- 95 percent, depending on the HRV measure considered.
The study cannot be generalized to women or other ethnic groups because 94 percent of participants were non-Hispanic white males.


Mediterranean-Style Diet Improves Heart Function, Twin Study Shows

[ORDagnabbit]

1. good to know.