Scientists in Spain followed over 13,000 men and women over a 10-year period. At the beginning of their research and for every 2 years after they asked the participants to respond to a very detailed questionnaire. This included information on their health status and personal habits. The surveys also contained a section with very specific questions about the subjects' usual diets.
As with other studies on the Mediterranean Diet, the participants' answers were scored on a 9-point scale assessing their adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet, with 9 points being the best and 0 points being the worst. At the end of the 10 years of the study, the researchers compared the diets of those folks who developed diabetes with those who did not.
They found that even those not eating a perfect Mediterranean-style diet (those with scores of 3 to 6) were 59 percent less likely to develop diabetes than those with the lowest scores of 0 to 2. People who had the highest scores of 7 to 9 were 83 percent less likely to develop diabetes. Man! 83 percent less likely to develop diabetes--that's amazing.
Just a 2-point increase in a person's score showed a reduction in risk of 35 percent!
What is especially interesting about this is that those with the highest scores (6 and above) fit a category of those that otherwise would have been considered to be at greatest risk of diabetes. They were older, had a higher Body Mass Index (BMI), tended to eat more, and were more likely to have a family history of diabetes or a history of high blood pressure. Even so, they were the group least likely to develop diabetes.
This is another great example of how small changes in your diet can have a profound effect on your health. Take a look at the article_temps on my profile page about the Mediterranean Diet. There are article_temps on each of the nine categories that can help guide you on eating better and healthier.
Eat well, eat healthy, enjoy life!
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