According to a new study, adhering to a Mediterranean diet – rich in nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables – could cut the risk of heart disease and death in women by 24%.
The diet has been linked to several health benefits. For example, a recent separate study suggests that people who follow the diet have a reduced risk of developing dementia in later life.
The latest study, published in Heart, saw researchers pool all previous studies on women adhering to Mediterranean diets, cardiovascular disease, and their risk of dying during the follow-up period.
Experts gathered data from 16 studies on more than 720,000 women whose cardiovascular health was monitored for an average of 12.5 years.
The team, led by academics from the University of Sydney in Australia, found that women with a "high adherence" to a Mediterranean diet were 24% less likely to have cardiovascular disease.
They were also 23% less likely to die from any cause during the follow-up period.
"We found that a Mediterranean diet was beneficial in women, with a 24% lower risk of CVD (cardiovascular disease) and a 23% lower risk of total mortality," the authors wrote.
Commenting on the study, Victoria Taylor, senior dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: "It's long been known that eating a Mediterranean-style diet is good for your heart, but it's encouraging to see this research suggest that when we look at women separately from men, the benefits remain.
"Heart disease is often seen as a male problem, but coronary heart disease kills more than twice as many women as breast cancer in the U.K. each year. Sex-specific research like this is vital for reducing the heart disease gender gap and improving women's care.
"Whatever your gender, a healthy lifestyle which includes a balanced diet like the Mediterranean-style diet can help you lower your risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
"It's easy to do – ensure you eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, beans, lentils, whole grains, fish, nuts and seeds, and some low-fat dairy and fat from unsaturated sources like olive oil. It's also important to eat less processed meat, salt and sweet treats."
In a separate study, researchers led by experts at Newcastle University found that people who followed a strict Mediterranean diet had a 23% lower risk of developing dementia than those with a low adherence score.
The findings published in BMC Medicine journal were based on data from over 60,000 individuals from the U.K. Biobank – an online database of medical and lifestyle records of over half a million Britons.
