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Latest Evidence of the Effects of the Mediterranean Diet in Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

  • Clinical Trials and Their Interpretations (JR Kizer, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The first step in the prevention of cardiovascular disease is healthy lifestyle and diet. Recent systematic reviews of observational studies ranked Mediterranean diet as the most likely dietary model to provide cardiovascular protection. This review updates the knowledge on the effects of Mediterranean diet from observational and randomized trials published in the last year. The results of the PREDIMED study, a randomized trial providing a higher level of scientific evidence than cohort studies, confirmed that the Mediterranean diet reduces the incidence of cardiovascular events. This effect may be exerted by reducing blood pressure; improving glucose metabolism, lipid profile, and lipoprotein particle characteristics; and decreasing inflammation and oxidative stress. It may also stem from a favorable interaction between diet and gene polymorphisms related to cardiovascular risk factors and events. These recent results allow us to recommend Mediterranean diet to subjects at high risk for cardiovascular disease with the highest level of scientific evidence.

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Conflict of Interest

Gemma Chiva-Blanch, L. Badimon, and Ramon Estruch declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Research Center (CSIC-ICCC), Barcelona, Spain

    G. Chiva-Blanch & L. Badimon

  2. Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau (IIB-Sant Pau), Sant Antoni Maria Claret, 167, 08025, Barcelona, Spain

    G. Chiva-Blanch & L. Badimon

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Clínic, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Ramon Estruch

  4. CIBER CB06/03 Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y la Nutrición, (CIBERobn) and RETIC RD06/0045, Barcelona, Spain

    Ramon Estruch

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  1. G. Chiva-Blanch
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  2. L. Badimon
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  3. Ramon Estruch
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Correspondence to Ramon Estruch.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Clinical Trials and Their Interpretations

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Chiva-Blanch, G., Badimon, L. & Estruch, R. Latest Evidence of the Effects of the Mediterranean Diet in Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. Curr Atheroscler Rep 16, 446 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11883-014-0446-9

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