What is "the best nutrition"?
The best nutrition for our brains turns out to also be the best nutrition for our hearts, our livers, our kidneys, and every other system in our body. And what does that nutrition look like? It's a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern focused on whole, minimally processed foods—what we call a Whole Food Mediterranean-Style diet.
The Mediterranean diet is the most extensively studied dietary pattern in the world, and for good reason. It continuously results in positive outcomes across a wide range of health conditions. The more the diet has been studied, the more health conditions it has been found to improve. With decades of science and hundreds of studies behind it, the Mediterranean diet is the dietary pattern recommended by nutrition scientists, clinicians, and dietitians.
Below is a partial list of conditions that the Mediterranean Diet has been shown to help prevent or treat:
Some cancers (breast, gastric, liver, head, neck, and prostate)
Some autoimmune disorders (of the thyroid, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis)
Note 1: The MIND diet, which is a type of Mediterranean diet has been shown to have better results for brain health than the standard scientific Mediterranean diet. Evidence-Based Nutrition also teaches the MIND diet.
Note 2: DASH diet has great evidence supporting it's positive effect on improving blood pressure. Evidence-Based Nutrition also teaches the DASH diet.
What is the Mediterranean diet?
The term "Mediterranean diet" can be confusing because it can have two definitions:
The diet eaten by people in the Mediterranean (i.e., Mediterranean cuisine)
The healthy dietary pattern studied in the scientific literature
Many people mistakenly think that "Mediterranean diet" is the first definition: they believe that Mediterranean diet is synonymous with Mediterranean cuisine. Many of the non-scientific sources on social media and throughout the internet use this definition. However, this is not the definition that aligns with optimal health outcomes.
The Mediterranean diet, known for promoting optimal health outcomes, is a specific dietary pattern that has been extensively researched in scientific literature. It was first identified through studies that began in the 1950s, examining rural communities across seven countries. Researchers closely documented the foods consumed in these regions over several decades and analyzed the foods in laboratories, while also carefully monitoring the health outcomes of the populations. The differences in health between communities were striking, and those in the Mediterranean region and Japan showed the best outcomes. Based on these findings, researchers named the most beneficial dietary pattern the "Mediterranean diet." Since then, numerous additional studies have confirmed and expanded upon these early results, revealing even more health benefits associated with this way of eating.
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Dr. Paul N. Hopkins, MD, MSPH, FNLA
Dr. Hopkins received his medical training at the University of Utah and Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester Minnesota.
He is board certified in Public Health and Preventive Medicine as well as Clinical Lipidology.
Dr. Hopkins has been involved in efforts to promote greater understanding and prevention of premature, familial coronary artery disease (CAD) with the Cardiovascular Genetics (CVG) group since 1978. He has been a Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Investigator for numerous NIH grants focused on the genetics of CAD, hypertension, lipids, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Dr. Hopkins is currently Co-Director of Cardiovascular Genetics at the University of Utah and Director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Clinic.
From 1998 to 2004 Dr. Hopkins was International Chair for the MEDPED program (Make Early Diagnoses to Prevent Early Death), started by the late Dr. Roger Williams to find, educate, and help prevent premature CAD in persons with FH. Dr. Hopkins served as an NIH grant reviewer and continues to be a reviewer for numerous medical journals. He teaches at the University of Utah School of Medicine, is an active lecturer, and serves as a statistical consultant for the Center for Clinical and Translational Studies statistics group at the University of Utah.