Published: Oct 14, 2014
By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Although it didn’t prevent the development of metabolic syndrome, the Mediterranean diet seemed to help reverse some of its symptoms, researchers found.
In a secondary analysis of data from the PREDIMED trial, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome didn’t differ whether patients were on one of two styles of Mediterranean diet or if they were on a control low-fat diet, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, MD, PhD, of Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Reus, Spain, and colleaguesreported online in CMAJ.
But those on either of the Mediterranean diets who had metabolic syndrome were more likely to get rid of their disease, the researchers found.
For their analysis, they looked at data on 5,801 participants in the randomized controlled PREDIMED trial, who were ages 55 to 80 and were at high risk for cardiovascular disease.
Between October 2003 and December 2010, they were randomly assigned to one of three diets:
- A Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil
- A Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts
- A low-fat control diet
During 5 years of follow-up, 50% of patients who were healthy at baseline developed metabolic syndrome, defined as having at least three of the following: large waist circumference, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, or hyperglycemia.
Salas-Salvadó and colleagues found that the risk of developing metabolic syndrome didn’t differ between the groups:
- Olive oil versus control: HR 1.10, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.30
- Nuts versus control: HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.92 to 1.27
But more patients who had metabolic syndrome at baseline had full remission of the disease if they were on one of the Mediterranean diets:
- Olive oil versus control: HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.58, P<0.001
- Nuts versus control: HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.51, P<0.001
Those in the olive oil group had significant decreases in both central obesity and high fasting glucose, while those in the nut group had a significant decrease in central obesity only.
“Because there were no between-group differences in weight loss or energy expenditure, the change is likely attributable to the difference in dietary patterns,” Salas-Salvadó said in a statement.