MEDITERRANEAN DIET - THE NEW RECIPE

Abstract

The new dietary guidelines have come up with new friends and newer foes ofheart concerning diet. Cholesterol remains the biggest trumpeted enemy of heartbut its relationship to intake of so far banned items like butter, cheese and meat1 has been deemphasized. Newer enemies of heart are being discovered in theform of Trimethyl amine oxide (TMAO). Diet-gut interactions,their role ascardiovascular riskand effect of different dietary regimens are being studied more2 extensively.

Interesting questions are now being raised in this scenario, can gut micobiota variation be used to stratifying treatment?Is therea possible use of TMAO as a clinical biomarker?There is a need for adequately powered trials to establish causal and clinically11 relevant relationship between gut microbiota and coronary artery disease.

This is the first of its kind study to document the effects of Mediterranean diet in primary prevention trial, supplemented withEVOO or nuts, resulted in a substantial reduction in the risk of major cardiovascular events among high-risk persons. The resultssupport the benefits of the Mediterranean diet for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Newer research hasidentified new foes and friends in terms of diet to prevent cardiovascular disease. TMAO has been targeted as the new enemyand Mediterranean diet has been extensively studied to reduce it. This study, with all the criticism, opens a new window of hopein the realm of primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.