There’s no one uniform Mediterranean lifestyle or eating pattern because its followers don’t all live in the same place. That complicates the effort to assess the potential health benefits of the diet. “Did you live in Italy? Did you live in Greece? Did you live in Spain? So then, when you do research studies, the diet might be a little different in each,” says Jo Ann Carson, PhD, a former professor of clinical nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a former chair of the nutrition committee for the American Heart Association. Dr. Carson adds that eating and drinking in moderation may be harder for those living on this side of the Atlantic — particularly because the Mediterranean diet does not set calorie intake guidelines. “I get concerned that someone from the United States will try to add ¼ cup of olive oil to their diet, but they’re not going to cut out some of the sweets … and then they’re going to be getting too many calories,” she says. With those caveats in mind, here is a look at eight of the touted health benefits of the Mediterranean diet — and the science behind them. The study authors reanalyzed the data at a later point to address a widely criticized flaw in the randomization protocol, and still reported similar results in a trial. Researchers looked at a predominantly white group of 23,232 men and women ages 40 to 77 who lived in the United Kingdom. The more closely a woman followed a Mediterranean diet, the lower her risk of stroke. Yet researchers didn’t see statistically significant results in men. Most notably, in women who were at high risk of stroke, the diet reduced their chances of this health event by 20 percent. All that said, more research is needed before recommending this eating approach to lower Alzheimer’s risk. The authors called for additional research in a larger participant group and for a longer study period. For now, Sexton notes that nutrition is one aspect of helping to stave off cognitive decline, but it’s not the only one. “It is important to also realize that, for maximal benefits, a healthy diet would likely need to be combined with other healthy lifestyle practices to help protect an aging brain,” she says. “Adopting one lifestyle factor, like a healthier diet, may reduce the risk of cognitive decline — but the more healthy lifestyle behaviors you can incorporate, the more cognitive benefit you’re likely to see.” This is an area of research the Alzheimer’s Association is exploring with its U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle. Sexton says the Mediterranean diet isn’t the only one that may offer brain protection. The blood-pressure lowering DASH diet and MIND diet (MIND stands for Mediterranean–DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay), which is a hybrid of the Mediterranean pattern and the DASH diet, are two others she mentions. “The jury is still out on any one specific diet being the most beneficial for our brains, and there likely won’t be a one-size-fits-all diet that can prevent dementia or cognitive decline in all individuals,” she says. Analysis of pooled data from four longitudinal studies revealed that the diet was associated with a 33 percent reduced risk of depression, compared with participants who followed a “pro-inflammatory diet” (richer in processed meats, sugar, and trans fats) that is more typical of a standard American diet.
