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Mediterranean addition to South Asian diet good for the heart
Paris, Nov 08: Fancy a spot of curried moussaka? Or, for a snack, how about nan bread with a tossed tomato and goat`s cheese salad?
Paris, Nov 08: Fancy a spot of curried moussaka? Or, for a snack, how about nan bread with a tossed tomato and goat`s cheese salad?
"Indo-Mediterranean" cuisine may be heading for the dinner plates of South Asia if a group of top doctors get their health message across.
A new study suggests the region could halve its rate of heart attacks if it copied some ideas from the famously fit-making food of the Mediterranean rim. The experts recruited a thousand volunteers to a programme based in Moradabad, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, all of whom had a history of cardiovascular problems. Half were given a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, walnuts and almonds, supplemented by soybean oil or mustard seed oil -- a near-equivalent to the olive oil that is a mainstay of Mediterranean food.
The other half ate conventional Asian food, but followed guidelines under the national cholesterol education programme, which suggests people set a limit on their consumption of fat, especially unsaturated fats.
After two years, the group that followed the "Indo-Mediterranean diet" had had 39 heart attacks compared with 76 who had eaten only the Asian food, and the number of sudden cardiac deaths was likewise halved.
"We noted a significant reduction in serum (blood) choesterol concentration and other risk factors in both groups but especially in the intervention diet group," the authors add.
Bureau Report
"Indo-Mediterranean" cuisine may be heading for the dinner plates of South Asia if a group of top doctors get their health message across.
A new study suggests the region could halve its rate of heart attacks if it copied some ideas from the famously fit-making food of the Mediterranean rim. The experts recruited a thousand volunteers to a programme based in Moradabad, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, all of whom had a history of cardiovascular problems. Half were given a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, walnuts and almonds, supplemented by soybean oil or mustard seed oil -- a near-equivalent to the olive oil that is a mainstay of Mediterranean food.
The other half ate conventional Asian food, but followed guidelines under the national cholesterol education programme, which suggests people set a limit on their consumption of fat, especially unsaturated fats.
After two years, the group that followed the "Indo-Mediterranean diet" had had 39 heart attacks compared with 76 who had eaten only the Asian food, and the number of sudden cardiac deaths was likewise halved.
"We noted a significant reduction in serum (blood) choesterol concentration and other risk factors in both groups but especially in the intervention diet group," the authors add.
Bureau Report