Easily adaptable into your lifestyle:
Dietary recommendations for our health often involve the increased consumption of certain nutrients, such as particular vitamins and minerals. However, the Mediterranean diet is different in that it is a dietary pattern, rather than the supplementation of a several nutrients. The benefit of the dietary pattern is that is more easily adaptable to one’s lifestyle, since people normally eat a range of different foods in different amounts, as opposed to the very high consumption of certain nutrients. Furthermore, the foods outlined in the Mediterranean diet are foods that many of us already typically include in our diets. Thus, adhering to the Mediterranean diet would not involve drastically changing from your current dietary habits. Rather, following the Mediterranean diet would translate into cutting down on some foods (such as refined cereals and meat) and changing the portion of foods that you already eat (such as increasing consumption of olive oil and fish). Additionally, studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet is also beneficial to ethnic populations different from those that reside in the Mediterranean area.
Since the Mediterranean diet is a dietary pattern, it is often difficult for scientists to determine exactly which parts of the diet are most beneficial, or which parts could even possibly be harmful. However, the scientific community generally believes that the benefits gained from the diet are not due to one single part of the diet. For example, Scarmeas et al reported that those who had high adherence to the Mediterranean diet were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, with no isolated part of the diet significantly being associated with this health benefit. This finding supports Scarmeas’ hypothesis that "composite dietary patterns can capture dimensions of nutrition that may be missed by individual components."
Scientific Discoveries of Its Health Benefits:
Although a direct benefit of the Mediterranean diet to HD has not yet been discovered, many studies report benefits of the Mediterranean diet that may be of interest to those with HD, as well as the general population.
Many studies on longevity have found that elderly individuals who follow the Mediterranean diet live longer. For instance, in studies that have taken place among elderly populations in locations such as Greece, Spain, Denmark, and Australia, all participants experienced longevity due to following the Mediterranean diet (see review, Trichopoulou et al). One study, conducted by Knoops et al, showed that elderly individuals, 70 to 90 years old who adhered to the Mediterranean diet and a healthy lifestyle had a lower rate of all-causes and cause-specific mortality by more than a 50% compared to those individuals who were not on the diet. Cause-specific mortality was defined here as mortality due to coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. However, it must be noted that this mortality statistic is based on not only the Mediterranean diet but also on a healthy lifestyle. Healthy lifestyle was defined by moderate alcohol consumption, nonsmoking, and physical activity. A similar study by Trichopulou et al that measured only the Mediterranean diet’s effect on longevity, with no reference to healthy lifestyle, confirms the findings in the Knoops study.
Perhaps of more interest to those with HD is the finding that adherence to the Mediterranean diet reduces cognitive decline and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Panza et al discovered that the Mediterranean diet protected against cognitive decline associated with normal aging of healthy individuals as well as cognitive impairment that characterizes Alzheimer’s disease and vascular disease. One of their results was that those who drank moderate amounts of wine had a lower risk of dementia of Alzheimer’s or vascular origin than those who did not drink any. Similarly, Scarmeas et al found that the group of people that most closely adhered to the Mediterranean diet (highest tertile in scores) reduced their risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease by 40%, compared to those of the lowest tertile in adherence scores.
One of the hypotheses as to how the Mediterranean diet benefits those with Alzheimer’s disease is that the diet protects against inflammation and oxidative stress, which are also thought to be common complications of Huntington’s disease. (For information on inflammation in HD, please click here and for information on oxidative stress and HD please click here.) Consequently, the Mediterranean diet may be helpful in preventing the progression of HD. Studies investigating the specific effects of the Mediterranean diet on HD still need to be conducted.
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C. A. Chen 5-7-07
For further reading:
Kawas CH. Comment on Diet and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease (Scarmeas). Ann Neurol. 2006 Jun;59(6):877-9.
This commentary article critiques the successes and limitations of Scarmeas' study.
Knoops KT, de Groot LC, Kromhout D, Perrin AE, Moreiras-Varela O, Menotti A, van Staveren WA. Mediterranean diet, lifestyle factors, and 10-year mortality in elderly European men and women: the HALE project. JAMA. 2004 Sep 22;292(12)1433-9.
This article found that elderly of ages 70-90 decreased by 50% all-causes mortality and cause-specific mortality by following a healthy lifestyle and Mediterranean diet.
Panza F, Solfrizzi V, Colacicco AM, D'Introno A, Capurso C, Torres F, Del Parigi A, Capurso S, Capurso A. Mediterranean diet and cognitive decline . Public Health Nutr. 2004 Oct;7(7):959-63. Review.
This article is a little more difficult to understand than the rest. The article discusses the finding that the Mediterranean diet protects against cognitive decline of normal aging as well as that of Alzheimer's disease and vascular disease.
Scarmeas N, Stern Y, Tang MX, Mayeux R, Luchsinger JA. Mediterranean Diet and Risk for Alzheimer's Disease . Ann Neurol. 2006 Jun;59(6):912-21.
This article is fairly easy-to-read and details how high adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with lowered risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Trichopoulou A, Costacou T, Bamia C, Trichopoulos D. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and survival in a Greek population. N Engl J Med. 2003 Jun 26;348(26):2599-608.
This easy-to-read article finds that close adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with decreased all-causes mortality and mortality specially caused by cancer and coronary heart disease.
Trichopoulou A. Traditional Mediterranean diet and longevity in the elderly: a review. Public Health Nutr. 2004 Oct;7(7):943-7. Review.
This article is a literature review of several studies investigating the effects of the Mediterranean diet on longevity in the elderly. The article's language is clear, and the Mediterranean diet was found to increase longevity in the elderly living in Greece , Spain , Denmark , and Australia .
Vanitallie TB. Ancel Keys: a tribute. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2005 Feb 14;2(1):4.
Details the life of Ancel Keys, the founder of the Mediterranean diet.
Last Modified: 05/22/2009
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