The widely revered Mediterranean diet has remained a favorite among dietitians and experts for decades. Often called the MedDiet for short, this healthful way of eating emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, seafood, and healthy fats like olive oil.
It has been linked to a number of benefits including boosting heart health and preventing cognitive decline, TODAY reported previously.
Now, there’s even stronger evidence that following a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Medicine on Thursday, Apr. 27.
Previous studies have shown that people who adhere closely to a Mediterranean diet have a moderately lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, but these relied on subjective reporting, Dr. Nita Forouhi, study co-author and leader of the nutritional epidemiology program at the University of Cambridge, tells TODAY.com.
This means study participants self-report their diet habits in a questionnaire, for example. “Self-reports are prone to reporting errors, and these errors can give rise to biased estimates of associations between diet and future disease risk,” Forouhi says.
A team of researchers at University of Cambridge overcame this limitation by developing a new way to objectively measure how closely a person follows the Mediterranean diet using a blood test.
The blood test looked at levels of molecules like carotenoids and fatty acids, or “biomarkers” of the Mediterranean diet. A total of 23 nutritional biomarkers were combined into an overall score, says Forouhi, which measured a person’s level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet instead.
The biomarker score was applied in a study of over 22,000 people across eight countries in Europe, says Forouhi. Using this method, researchers found that people whose biomarker score indicated they stuck to a Mediterranean diet were less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes, she adds.
“The 20% of participants with the…
Read the full article here
