More Than Just Olive Oil

For decades, doctors have been intrigued by the apparent health benefits of the so-called Mediterranean diet, which is not really a diet the way most people think of one. It's more of a dietary pattern — or rather, several complementary dietary patterns that have existed around the Mediterranean basin for centuries. Typical Mediterranean diets emphasize lots of fruits, cooked vegetables and legumes, grains (whole, not refined) and, in moderation, wine, nuts, fish and dairy products, particularly yogurt and cheese. But most Americans tend to focus on one component of these diets — olive oil — as if it were a magical potion that you could drizzle over any meal to make it healthy.

Life should be so easy. According to the largest, most rigorously controlled study of a Mediterranean diet ever conducted, people with the most Mediterranean-like eating habits do seem to have a reduced risk of dying from heart disease (down 33%) or cancer (24%). But the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, was unable to link the health benefits to any one ingredient, not even olive oil. "It's only when you see the whole pattern that you see a statistically significant reduction in mortality," says Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou, the study's lead author and a professor at the University of Athens Medical School. Her working hypothesis: the health benefits of the diet stem from the interaction of all its various components.

Some foods did stand out in the data, however. Potatoes, while not clearly harmful or beneficial, tilted more to the bad side, as did eggs and meat — all foods that are consumed sparingly in traditional Mediterranean diets. Vegetables, legumes, nuts (in moderation) lean to the good side, with the greatest benefit coming from the consumption of large quantities of fruit. As you might expect, the NEJM study also showed that a Mediterranean diet did not eliminate the unsalutary effects of smoking or overeating.

So what about olive oil? Its main purpose seems to be as a vehicle for consuming more vegetables. Sauteed vegetables, especially when you add herbs and garlic, just taste better than steamed ones, which brings us to perhaps the greatest advantage of the Mediterranean style of eating. It treats food as food, not medicine.

For more on the mediterranean diet, visit www.oldwayspt.org