Several new studies have emerged this month supporting the Mediterranean Diet, whole grains, and plant based eating.

According to senior author Sandrine Thuret, a neuroscientist at King’s College London, changing your lifestyle – exercise and eating- can help delay cognitive decline. “The safest approach is to have a healthy lifestyle,” Thuret says. “Exercising and eating a diet close to the Mediterranean diet will slow down cognitive aging.

Thuret and her team published their study Thursday in the journal Communications Biology.

The foundation of the Mediterranean diet is vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, beans and whole grains. Meals are built around these plant-based foods, according to the Mayo Clinic.

 

Another new study published in The BMJ in April 2020 suggests that almost any remedial diet can result in a certain amount of weight loss and a better cardiovascular risk profile over the next six months, compared with the usual diet. However, at the 12-month mark, the dieter has mostly gained back the weight, while most cardiovascular risk factors are back at their original levels.

The only exception was the Mediterranean diet, in which the reduction in LDL cholesterol (widely associated with increased cardiovascular risk) was significant

When the dieters were reassessed at 12 months, all showed a reduction in the expected weight loss by 1.5 kg, and no benefit for cardiovascular risk factors, with any diet – except the Mediterranean diet. Only the Mediterranean diet had a better effect on LDL cholesterol than the usual diet.

 

Bulgur wheat is a plant-based whole grain food that is a main component of the Mediterranean Diet.  Bulgur wheat can be purchased here.