TheMediterranean diet, rich in vegetables, olive oil, whole grains, fruit and nuts, has been linked to numerous对健康的益处. Many observational studies have shown that those eating a Mediterranean diet live longer on average, and have reduced risk of heart disease, cancer and hypertension. Now, new evidence published inBMC Medicine从Prevencion反对饮食Mediterranea (predimed）合作提供了对地中海饮食的好处的进一步见解。

由一群西班牙研究人员领导的Predimed研究Miguel Ángel Martínez-González从the University of Navarra,Ramón Estruch来自巴塞罗那诊所医院和Jordi Salas-Salvado从Reus University, is a large clinical trial that was designed to investigate the efficacy of the Mediterranean diet for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Participants at high risk of heart disease were randomly assigned to follow a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either olive oil or nuts, and those in the control group were asked to follow a low-fat diet. Earlier this year, results from this study provided the first evidence from a clinical trial to show that eating a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil or nuts将心脏病和中风的风险降低30％.

Further analysisof the trial published inBMC Medicineby Jordi Salas-Salvadó and colleagues showed that those eating nuts more than three times a week have reduced risk of mortality compared with non-consumers. In acommentaryarticle, Sabine Rohrmann and David Faeh discuss these results, highlighting that further research should assess whether particular types of nuts should be favored, and the optimal quantity of nuts that should be consumed. Martínez-González and colleagues explored the cardioprotective effects of nuts and olive oil further in astudyinvestigating their effects on hypertension. The authors found that although both the Mediterranean and low-fat diets have beneficial effects on blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure was reduced to a greater extent in the groups promoting increased consumption of olive oil or nuts. These results suggest that the beneficial effect on blood pressure could explain the link between Mediterranean diet and reduced CVD risk.

In addition to its cardioprotective effects, the Mediterranean diet has been linked to improvements in mental health. In a研究文章，AlmudenaSánchez-Villegas及其同事表明，吃更多坚果的人会降低抑郁症的风险，而在2型糖尿病患者中，反向关联较强，这表明补充了坚果的地中海饮食可能会对心理健康产生积极影响。典型的地中海饮食还含有适中的葡萄酒，Martínez-González及其同事探索了葡萄酒消费对抑郁症风险的影响进一步research分析来自Predimed研究的数据。作者发现，那些每周喝两到七杯酒的人比非饮酒者少于抑郁症，而大饮酒者的抑郁症风险更大。这些结果表明，酒精与心理健康之间的关系比以前想象的要复杂，作者得出的结论是，适度的葡萄酒消耗可以减少地中海人口的抑郁症。

Taken together, the results published inBMC Medicine从the PREDIMED study provide important evidence for the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet on physical and mental health. Martínez-González explained that:

“PREDIMED is the largest randomized trial with a dietary pattern ever conducted in Europe… We are finding more and more answers that can help to substantially reduce the major global causes of death and disability in the next decades if the population-wide strategy of preventive medicine is eventually adopted to improve the dietary habits of the general public.”

我们期待未来的研究，研究是否可以将Predimed试验的结果推送到其他人群中，并希望将来采用这项重要研究的结果来改善心血管和心理健康。