Research has shown that a traditional Mediterranean diet provides assistance in protecting the body from type 2 diabetes.
Mediterranean meals are rich in olive oil, grains, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and fish, but have very little meat, dairy, or alcohol.
Studies hint that such a diet plays a major role in cardiovascular disease, however, there are not any current studies in how this diet effects the diabetic population.
Researchers gathered 13,000 graduates from the University of Navarra in Spain with no history of diabetes and recruited between December 1999 and November 2007; each graduate had their dietary habits and health were subsequently tracked.
Developers of the study arranged to have a questionnaire that was designed to measure each participants eating habits. The test totaled 136 questions that asked the participants specifically about their cooking methods, types of oils they use, and their overall dietary supplements.
The participants were then notified every two years by a questionnaire that asked each about their diet, lifestyle, and other medical conditions. From this information, researchers were able to pick up new cases of diabetes
The researchers found that participants who stuck closely to the diet had a lower risk of diabetes. A high adherence to the diet was associated with an 83% relative reduction in the risk of developing diabetes.
An important thing to note is that participants who stuck strictly to the diet were thought to have the highest prevalence of risk factors for diabetes such as older age, a family history of diabetes, and a higher proportion of ex-smokers.
This did not happen. In fact the participants had a lower risk of diabetes which suggested that the diet might provide substantial protection.
The primary compounds of the diet include a high intake of fiber, vegetable fat, trans fatty acids, and a moderate intake of alcohol.
In addition, a key element of the diet is the abundant use of virgin oil for cooking, frying, spreading on bread, and dressing salads.
The scientist finished by calling for larger cohorts and trials to confirm their findings.
