Which is Healthier: Being a Vegetarian or Eating a Mediterranean Diet?

The Mediterranean diet is consistently heralded as one of the most healthful eating styles. It’s heavy on produce, nuts, whole grains, olive oil and lean protein, and light on red meat, processed foods and refined sugars. But a new study finds that vegetarian diets may be just as good at keeping your heart healthy, according to a study published in the journal Circulation. For the study, a group of Italian researchers recruited 100 overweight but healthy adults with low-to-moderate cardiovascular risk profiles. Half the group started on a Mediterranean diet, while the other started on a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet, which eliminates meat and fish but includes eggs and dairy. After three months, they switched. During and after both phases of the study, everyone had regular health screenings. Both diets, the researchers found, were good for people’s heart health — but in different ways. The vegetarian diet led to a more substantial drop in the “bad” LDL cholesterol that contributes to plaque build-up in the arteries, which is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke. The Mediterranean diet, meanwhile, led to a greater drop in triglycerides, which at elevated levels can be a risk factor for the same conditions. “We were able to show that if a person follows for three months … either a lacto-ovo or a Mediterranean diet, they are both beneficial for reducing cardiovascular risk factors,” says study author Francesco Sofi, an associat...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Diet/Nutrition healthytime onetime Source Type: news