Mediterranean-style diet may reduce heart risk

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Mediterranean-style diet rich in fatty fish, beans, fruits and vegetables beats low-fat diet in preventing cardiovascular disease, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them, says a new study released Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Mediterranean diet" means a style of eating with a lot of olive oil, nuts, fish, chicken, beans, salads, tomato sauce, wine and some baked foods. It is opposite to the traditional notion of low-fat diet which touted as healthy diet.

The five-year long research involved 7,500 participants ages 55 to 80 in Spain. People who had Mediterranean diet had 30 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those with the low-fat diet.

The Mediterranean dieters were almost 40 percent less likely than the low-fat dieters to have a stroke during the study period.

Martinez-Gonzalez, leader of the study. said he and his colleagues are about to start a new study involving 7,000 people to see whether, and by how much, that might further reduce cardiovascular disease.

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