The Mediterranean diet may reduce women's mortality risk from heart disease by 25%

According to a research, women who follow a Mediterranean diet have better heart health and have about 25% lower mortality and cardiovascular disease risks.

The Mediterranean diet is low in red/processed meats, dairy, animal fat, and processed foods and high in whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and extra virgin olive oil. It is moderate in fish and shellfish and low to moderate in wine.

In the globe, cardiovascular disease is responsible for almost one-third of all fatalities among women. While a healthy diet, especially the Mediterranean diet, has been an important element of prevention, the majority of relevant clinical studies either included few women or did not publish the outcomes by sex, according to the researchers.

The current research, which was published in the journal Heart, is the first to concentrate on the relationship between a Mediterranean diet and incident CVD and mortality in women.

Researchers from the University of Sydney and other institutions showed that women who followed a Mediterranean diet had a 24% reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and a 23% lower chance of dying overall.

As compared to those who adhered to this diet the least, the risk of coronary heart disease was 25% lower, and the risk of stroke was also reduced, but not statistically significant.

The researchers hypothesised that the relationships may be explained by the Mediterranean diet's antioxidant and gut microbiota impacts on inflammatory and cardiovascular risk factors.

Moreover, the many elements of the diet, such as polyphenols, nitrates, omega-3 fatty acids, higher fibre consumption, and lower glycaemic load, may each individually help to lower cardiovascular risk.

They add that the results support the need for additional sex-specific study in cardiology and point out that the mechanisms behind the Mediterranean diet's sex-specific impact on (cardiovascular disease) and mortality are still unknown.

Women's particular cardiovascular risk factors, such as early menopause, pre-eclampsia, and gestational diabetes, as well as female-predominant risk factors, including systemic lupus, may all independently raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the study's authors.

The researchers included 16 published studies with more than 700,000 women aged 18 and older for the data analysis.

The fact that all the studies examined were observational and relied on self-reported eating frequency questionnaires was one of several limitations the researchers also highlighted with regard to their results.