Here we go with the Med Diet again. But for good reason. One of the fundamental issues behind obesity is, simply, overeating. It’s easy to say, “Don’t eat so much!” but it’s hard for a person prone to that sin to follow that advice. Now, it appears that the Med Diet may naturally deter overeating…
The Mediterranean Diet just keeps impressing with its
many benefits to health and well being.
A new study by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center clearly shows that subjects fed the Med Diet elected not to overeat while subjects fed fed the ‘standard’ Western Diet ate ‘far more’ than they needed.
What they did
Researchers used two groups of middle-aged, female ‘non-human’ primates as study subjects. The experiment lasted 38 months – equivalent to 9 years in human terms. Subjects were randomly assigned either the Med Diet or the Western Diet. Both groups were allowed to eat as much as they wanted of their assigned foods.
What they found
The Wake Forest team found that nonhuman primates on a Mediterranean diet chose not to eat all the food available to them and maintained a normal weight.
“By comparison, the animals on a Western diet ate far more than they needed and gained weight,” said the study’s Principal Investigator, Dr. Carol Shively. “What we found was that the group on the Mediterranean diet actually ate fewer calories, had lower body weight and had less body fat than those on the Western diet.”
The Mediterranean diet also protected against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, known as NAFLD. NAFLD can cause cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer, and require a transplant. Obesity is a major cause of NAFLD. By 2030, one-third of U.S. adults are expected to have cirrosis, and it is the fastest growing reason for liver transplants in young adults in the United States.
The takeaway
“Diet composition is a critically important contributor to the U.S. public health, and unfortunately those at the greatest risk for obesity and related costly chronic diseases also have the poorest quality diets,” Shively said. “The Western diet was developed and promoted by companies who want us to eat their food, so they make it hyper-palatable, meaning it hits all our buttons so we overconsume. Eating a Mediterranean diet should allow people to enjoy their food and not overeat, which is such a problem in this country. […] We hope our findings will encourage people to eat healthier foods that are also enjoyable, and improve [their] health.”
My take
I agree entirely with Shively. But – as I have on other occasions when I’ve looked at studies recommending the Med Diet – I have to point out that lower-income and elderly people may not be able to afford some of the foods that are key to the Med Diet and will, therefore, be excluded from accessing its benefits. We need to spend less on ‘art’ in subway stations and more on support of the health and welfare of those in our society who need help in that fundamental way. And we need governments to come up with programs that will lower the cost of healthy foods for all.
~ Maggie J.