Mediterranean beats low-fat diet for heart health

Last Updated: 2006-07-05 11:55:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Mediterranean-style diets, rich in healthy fats from olive oil or nuts, may be better for the heart than low-fat regimens, a new study shows.

Spanish researchers found that the traditional Mediterranean diet bested a low-fat diet in helping older adults improve their cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. The findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, add to evidence that diets rich in healthy fats offer a better heart prescription than diets that limit fat altogether.

Mediterranean-style eating generally means plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, limited amounts of red meat and processed foods, and a relatively high amount of fat from olive oil and nuts. Studies have shown that people living in the Mediterranean region have lower rates of heart disease, despite their high fat intake.

Experts believe the benefit stems from the fact that the unsaturated fats found in olive oil and nuts actually help protect the cardiovascular system.

Olive oil is mostly monounsaturated fat, and virgin olive oil -- which is minimally processed -- retains the fruit's natural antioxidants, as well as nutrients that may help reduce inflammation in the blood vessels. Similarly, nuts contain unsaturated fats and other nutrients thought to be heart-protective.

The researchers, lead by Dr. Ramon Estruch of the University of Barcelona, found that it didn't matter whether study participants got their healthy fat largely from olive oil or from nuts. The subjects assigned to either diet group that includes fats tended to see greater improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar than their peers who followed a low-fat diet.

This means the effects of the Mediterranean diet were moving "in the right direction," Estruch of the University of Barcelona, told Reuters Health. Longer follow-up, he said, is needed to see whether the benefits translate into fewer heart attacks and strokes.

The study included 769 men and women between 55 and 80 years old who had type 2 diabetes or multiple other risk factors for heart disease and stroke, such as smoking, high blood pressure and heavy body weight.

For three months, participants followed one of three diets: a low-fat regimen that advised cutting down on all types of dietary fat; a Mediterranean diet that emphasized virgin olive oil as the prime fat source; or a Mediterranean diet in which walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds provided a large amount of overall dietary fat.

By the end of the study, those on either Mediterranean diet showed small improvements in their "good" HDL cholesterol levels, while the low-fat group showed an HDL decline -- something that is known to happen with low-fat diets.

Both Mediterranean diet groups also had an overall improvement in blood pressure and blood sugar levels, while those of the low-fat group were essentially unchanged.

Men and women who got most of their fat from olive oil also had a decline in a blood substance called C-reactive protein, a marker of chronic inflammation in the body.

The study did not assess whether virgin olive oil or nuts were the healthier fat source, Estruch said, and it's probably best to include both for a healthful diet.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine, July 4, 2006.

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Breastfeeding may help prevent bedwetting

Last Updated: 2006-07-05 16:31:55 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Kids who wet the bed are less likely to have been breastfed as infants than infants who stay dry at night, a new study shows.

The study's authors propose that breastfeeding's known benefits for nervous system development may be responsible.

"Although we do have to do further studies to confirm these results in a prospective fashion, it's just another study that emphasizes the fact that breast milk is really the best nutrition for a newborn baby," Dr. Joseph G. Barone of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

Fifteen percent of 5-year-olds wet the bed, while 5 percent of 10-year-olds and 1 percent of 13-year-olds do, Barone and his team note in their report in the medical journal Pediatrics. Failure to stay dry at night is medically defined as bedwetting if a child is five or older. However, parents do not usually seek treatment until their child is six or seven years old, Barone told Reuters Health.

Because breastfeeding confers visual, growth and intellectual developmental benefits --probably due to the high long-chain fatty acid content of breast milk compared with that found in formula -- the researchers investigated if breast-feeding might protect against bedwetting as well.

They compared 55 children aged 5 to 13 who were receiving treatment for bedwetting to 117 children who did not wet the bed. The two groups were the same age and gender.

Among the children who wet the bed, 45.5 percent had been breastfed as infants, compared to 81.2 percent of the non-bedwetters. After the researchers used statistical techniques to adjust for other factors that can influence both breastfeeding and the likelihood of bedwetting, the association remained, with children who wet the bed 72 percent less likely than non-bedwetters to have been breastfed.

The effect was only seen if the children had been breastfed for three months or longer, which is consistent with other research showing that breastfeeding must be maintained for at least that long to confer other benefits. Whether or not the breastfed children received supplementation with formula had no effect on the likelihood that they would wet the bed.

To confirm that breastfeeding actually does help prevent bedwetting, Barone said, it will be necessary to follow breastfed and formula-fed children from birth to childhood. If these studies further support this hypothesis, "breastfeeding could be viewed as the first true preventative approach toward bedwetting," he and his colleagues conclude.

SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.