For all the good a Mediterranean diet can do for your health, it isn't a panacea, as this study of patients living on the southern coast of Spain in Malaga illustrates.
Even worse, Spanish patients are on the same path toward the same serious health problems -- obesity and diabetes -- experienced by their neighbors in America and the UK.
To better understand the problems contributing to cardiovascular disease -- the primary cause of death in Spain at 33 percent -- scientists conducted a cross-sectional study on the health of 2,270 patients (median age 44 and about evenly divided between the sexes). The image you may have of healthy Europeans eating a Mediterranean diet will likely be shaken.
A majority of patients were overweight (60 percent), 77 percent didn't get the right amount of exercise and 28 percent of them smoked. And, it showed in the prevalence of elevated cholesterol levels (65 percent), blood pressure (33 percent) and diabetes (7 percent). Also, the obesity risks among patients grew as they aged. An alarming 84 percent of patients over age 50 were obese or overweight, compared to entire group at 61 percent.
These numbers add up to more evidence that the value of making lifestyle changes knows no borders…
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International Journal of Clinical Practice, Vol. 65, No. 1, p. 35-40, January 2011 Free Full Text Study
ScienceDaily January 10, 2011