CONNECTIONS THE MAY FLOWERS IISSUE MAY 2016

My Connections Magazine
CONNECTIONS May 2016
group with the highest MDS
score range of 15. Among those
who had scored MDS of 13-14 —
10.5 percent had a MACE, while
10.8 percent of those with an
MDS score of 12 or lower did.
Professor Ralph Stewart, from
Auckland City Hospital,
University of Auckland, New
Zealand, who led the study,
said: “After adjusting for other
factors that might affect the
results, we found that every one
unit increase in the
Mediterranean diet score was
associated with a seven percent
reduction in the risk of heart
attacks, strokes or death from
cardiovascular or other causes
in patients with existing heart
disease.”
But this part Dr. Stewart adds is
where it gets real interesting…
“In contrast, greater
consumption of foods thought
be less healthy and more typical
of Western diets, was not
associated with an increase in
these adverse events, which we
had not expected.”
So the obvious health-boosting
effects of the Mediterranean diet
seemed to rise to the top
regardless of whether the folks
in the study also ate foods from
the not-so-healthy Western diet.
Is this proof-positive perhaps
that strict adherence to extreme
dieting is not necessary to
experience better health and
reduce your risks of disease and
death?
Though this study didn’t delve
deeply into details like caloric
intake and fats, that’s exactly
what is seems to say…
According to Dr. Stewart, “The
main message is that some
foods — and particularly fruit
and vegetables — seem to lower
the risk of heart attacks and
strokes, and this benefit is not
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