Mediterranean diet is hailed as the best diet in the world. It maintains weight and also controls chronic diseases and body inflammation. And now a new study from the USA has revealed that it also has a great role in prevention of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy.
The Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is a staple of people of the Mediterranean countries. It is supposedly the best diet to follow. It is tasty and nutritious. In this diet, emphasis is on healthy and nutrient dense foods such as nuts, seeds, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and fatty fish. The latter provide healthy fats including omega 3 fatty acids.
The Mediterranean diet pyramid (Source: Oldways)This diet is anti-inflammatory. It has a lot of fiber and phytochemicals that can reduce body inflammation and keep blood sugar and blood cholesterol under control. The diet relaxes the arterial walls and prevents high blood pressure. Moreover, it keeps under control chronic and degenerative diseases and overcomes cognitive decline. There is also a role of this diet in reducing the risk of cancer.
The diet is good for the heart, gut, liver, and kidney. It promotes muscle buildup and repair. And also improves brain health. And now a new American study has shown that mothers on this diet during conception have a lowered risk of preeclampsia.
The new USA study
Preeclampsia is a condition during pregnancy in which the mother to be gets elevated blood pressure readings and body water retention. It stresses the mother and her heart, liver, kidney and other body organs. It can also jeopardize the well being and life of the fetus.
Scientists from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai found that women who ate this diet during conception had a lowered risk of pregnancy-related complications such as preeclampsia.
Preeclampsia (Source: March of dimes)The study that is now in the reputed journal JAMA Network Open set out to find the association between the Mediterranean diet and unfavorable pregnancy outcomes including gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, premature birth, low birth weight babies and fetal demise. Natalie Bello, the senior study author explains:
“This multicenter, population-based study validates that a healthier eating pattern is associated with a lower risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, the most exciting being a 28% lower risk for preeclampsia,”
She added:
“Importantly, this connection between the Mediterranean diet and lower risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes was seen in a geographically, racially and ethnically diverse population.”
More on the study findings
Further, the study revealed that the benefit of the diet in lowering the risk of preeclampsia was more in those women who are high risk for pregnancy. These included those of advanced age and more than 35 years of age.
The Mediterranean diet (Source: Healthline)This diet also helped reduce the incidence of gestational diabetes. 10038 women were in the Nulliparous Pregnancy Outcomes Study: Monitoring Mothers-to-be. And out of this, 7798 were part of this study. Natalie added:
“We also looked at the individual components of the Mediterranean diet and found higher intakes of vegetables, legumes and fish were related to lower associated risk of an adverse pregnancy outcome,”
Read here: What is a Nordic diet? Foods allowed, excluded, and difference from Mediterranean diet!
Cardiologist Christine Albert opines:
“These findings add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating that the Mediterranean-style diet may play an important role in preserving the health of women across the lifespan, including during pregnancy,”