The Mediterranean Diet and Weight Loss

It’s time to tell good fats from bad ones and bring them back into our diet!

A randomized controlled study in Spain found that following the Mediterranean diet, rich in extra virgin olive oil, not only does not lead to weight gain, but quite the opposite – to weight loss. The results were published in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

More than 7000 people took part in the study, divided into 3 groups over 5 years. The first group followed the Mediterranean diet with unlimited calories, supplemented with extra virgin olive oil; the second group followed the same diet again, but this time supplemented with nuts; and the third stuck to low-fat foods. At the start of the study more than 90% of the participants were overweight or obese, and they were aged between 55 and 80.

The results show that all three groups lost weight, but the greatest reduction was in the first, which followed the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil – 0.88 kg compared with 0.60 kg on a low-fat diet.

“For more than 40 years, dietary policy has advocated a low-fat diet, but in fact we see very little effect on the rising levels of obesity” – Dr. Ramon Estruch, author of the study, from the Biomedical Research Center for Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition at the University of Barcelona

Four decades ago, the mistaken belief that fats would make people fat, because they are rich in calories, led to mass sales of low-fat and/or fat-free foods in supermarkets. This in itself led to the opposite effect and contributed to the obesity epidemic, as food manufacturers replaced fat with sugars or other carbohydrates in everything from yogurts to ready meals.

Here we should clarify that the aim of the Spanish study is not to give the impression that people can eat absolutely anything. The participants in the Mediterranean groups consumed foods that are high in fat, but do not include red meat or butter, processed foods, pastries, desserts or sugar-sweetened drinks. Instead they consumed fish, nuts, vegetables, fruit and whole grains.

“Our study shows that the Mediterranean diet, rich in plant fats such as olive oil and nuts, has no negative effect on body weight or waist circumference – quite the contrary. The Mediterranean diet has well-known health benefits and includes healthy fats such as vegetable oils, fish and nuts. Our findings certainly do not suggest that unrestricted diets with high levels of unhealthy fats such as butter, processed meat, sweetened drinks, desserts or fast food are beneficial.”

There is growing scientific evidence that the good fats in olive oil, nuts and fish are beneficial to health. Recent studies show that eating a Mediterranean diet with extra virgin olive oil also leads to lower levels of cardiovascular disease and cancer. So let us focus on the quality of our food and stop counting the calories in it.