Want a Healthy Gut and Heart? Try the Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet has been making new headlines recently. The U.S. News and World Report encouraged people to try the Mediterranean diet along with the DASH diet. It has also been found the Mediterranean diet has been in practice much longer than keto diet. The Mediterranean diet is extremely simple to follow: Avoid consuming too much of red meats, have a glass of red wine with your dinner and consume lots of colorful fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

A recent study ^[1] have revealed that following a Mediterranean diet can reduce your risk of several cardiovascular diseases. It also prevents type-2 diabetes and breast cancer. According to another study ^[2] , having a healthy gut can help in managing weight and boost the immune system.

How the Mediterranean Diet Is Linked to Healthy Gut Bacteria?

The researches at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center discovered that consuming a plant-based diet can improve good bacteria in the gut by almost 7 % as compared to 0.5% on consuming a western, meat-focused diet.

Non-human primates were given the Mediterranean and western diets for 30 months. The Mediterranean diet includes foods like fish oil, fish, olive oil, eggs, butter, fruit puree, sucrose and wheat flour whereas the western diet contained butter, eggs, beef tallow, sucrose, cholesterol and high-fructose corn syrup.

Towards the end of the study, researchers analyzed the gut microbiome of the non-human primates via their fecal samples. The researchers surprisingly observed that the animals who were on the Mediterranean diet had a significantly higher diversity of gut bacteria as compared to those who ate western diet.

Hariom Yadiv, lead author of the study, explained that we have almost two billion good and bad bacteria in our gut. If these bacteria are not balanced, our health suffers eventually.

If you want to make some healthier food choices in your life or want to improve your gut health, following the Mediterranean diet seems to be a great idea. Another great reason to begin with the Mediterranean diet is that it allows you to drink red wine. We advise you to consult your doctor before you make any drastic changes in your diet.

You can also read about other diets that help growth of healthy bacteria in your gut .