The Diet That Prevents Heart Problems Better Than Pharmaceuticals

A carefully controlled study in Spain shows that you can reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke and an early death by about 30 percent with a diet that is not that hard to follow but that necessitates a shift away from the processed foods America gorges on.

Researchers at the University of Barcelona confirmed that following a Mediterranean diet filled with fruits and vegetables, healthy doses of olive oil plus beans, nuts and fish produces all the health benefits many experts have believed in for years.

“Really impressive,” Rachel Johnson, a professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont told The New York Times. “And the really important thing — the coolest thing — is that they used very meaningful endpoints. They did not look at risk factors like cholesterol or hypertension or  weight. They looked at heart attacks and strokes and death. At the end of the day, that is what really matters.”

One of the main features of the diet is the fact that participants consumed 4 tablespoons of olive oil daily. They also mostly eliminated packaged cookies, donuts, pastries, dairy products and processed meats.