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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mediterranean diet is good for you ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1997 Nando.net Copyright 1997 Reuter Information Service STOCKHOLM (August 26, 1997 02:28 a.m. EDT) - A Mediterranean diet which says 'No' to juicy steaks and has plenty of ratatouille reduces heart disease, studies presented on Monday confirmed. "It's the full diet that has a positive effect," Daan Kromhout, a Dutch researcher, told a news conference at the 19th Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Stockholm. The Mediterranean diet is dominated by vegetables, whole-grain cereal products, fruit, berries and fish while containing only small amounts of animal products such as meat. "Even if we cannot tell which components of the Mediterranean diet are responsible for its coronary heart disease preventive effect, a plant-dominated diet rich in fruit, vegetables and legumes has a positive effect," Jukka Salonen, a Finnish researcher, told Reuters. Researchers based their new findings on an old study, the Seven Countries Study, where 16 groups of more than 12,000 middle-aged men were examined between 1958 and 1964. That study found that death from coronary heart disease was four times higher in Northern Europe than in Mediterranean countries. A new study used the old data from Finland, the Netherlands and Italy and summarized the dietary pattern, finding that men in each culture who had the best diets had the lowest death rate. "The importance is to use a balanced diet," Kromhout said. "The Mediterranean diet is one example and the Japanese diet another." Both diets are well-known for involving eating a lot of fish and vegetables -- both of which are considered healthy -- and little meat and fatty acids. <http://www.nando.net/newsroom/ntn/health/082697/health24_8543_noframes.html> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask]