How the Mediterranean diet affects cardiovascular and cognitive health

Aleix Sala-Vila, PhD, is an associate scientist at the Fatty Acid Research Institute (FARI) and research fellow at Hospital del Mar Research Institute–cardiovascular risk and nutrition group, Barcelona, Spain.

In this interview, Sala-Vila explains research showing how a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil or mixed nuts demonstrated a decrease in cardiovascular disease and decline in cognitive health.

For an in-depth examination of more of Sala-Vila’s research, read more on a longitudinal study linking omega-3 levels and risk of early-onset dementia.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: What are some of the major results from your research on the effects of the Mediterranean diet on various health outcomes?

Aleix Sala-Vila: I said that was mostly involved in a PREDIMED study. And I took the lead in the paper on changes in atherosclerotic plaque. It was published more than 10 years ago. It was really nice for us because it covered something that it was – it was kind of, this helped to explain the main result of the PREDIMED trial. In the same PREDIMED trial, I guess that most of the audience already know that, but just a brief reminder, it was in participants at high risk of cardiovascular disease, but without cardiovascular event at baseline. So they were randomized to receive either a low-fat diet, advised to follow a low-fat diet. They were randomized and advised to follow a Mediterranean diet with a supplement of extra virgin olive oil, or Mediterranean diet supplemented with 30 grams per day of mixed nuts, which was 15 grams of half an ounce of walnuts, and quarter of ounce hazelnuts, quarter of ounce of walnuts. So PREDIMED and covered, okay, that Mediterranean diet supplemented with these two types of foods reduced cardiovascular disease.

But plenty of other sub studies were conducted. So I said we proved that Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts, we used the bands of the atherosclerotic plaque, which was quite nice, and also was involved in study. I wasn't a leading author, but it was quite closely involved to the study testing changes in cognition. So we observed that patients following, or sorry, participants following Mediterranean diet supplemental with olive oil or Mediterranean supplemented with mixed nuts showed less decline in cognitive function as compared to participants following the advice to follow a low-fat diet. This was another hit, and I'm so proud to be part of this study, although I'm not the leading author of the paper.