Mediterranean Diet With Extra-Virgin Oil Cuts Heart Risk 30 Percent

Yes, we all knew the Mediterranean diet was good for us, but now we know how good it is– by the numbers. Time magazine reports that when researchers at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona put the Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil to the test against a low-fat diet, they found that after five years, those eating the extra-virgin olive oil showed a 30 percent lower risk of heart attack, stroke or dying of heart disease than people eating a low fat diet. Wait, there’s more: those eating the Mediterranean diet with more nuts showed a 28 percent lower risk. Here’s how they did it: Time reports that the participants in the Mediterranean diet groups replaced red meat with white meat like chicken and ate three or more servings of fish each week, along with three or more servings of fruit and two or more servings of vegetables a day. The extra-virgin-olive-oil group also consumed more than four tablespoons of the oil a day, replacing regular olive oil with the extra-virgin variety, which contains more potentially heart-healthy compounds like polyphenols and vitamin-E tocopherols. Read more in Time magazine.