Researchers have compared the Mediterranean diet's effects on outcomes related to metabolic syndrome (MetS) to those of a low-fat diet (LF-Diet) in a study published in the journal Human Nutrition & Metabolism.
Treatment options for metabolic syndromes
Any three of the following five conditions—hypertension, high triglycerides, high blood sugar, visceral obesity, and poor high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol—are required to diagnose MetS. Treatment for MetS frequently involves a mix of nonpharmacologic and pharmaceutical measures.
Currently available pharmacologic therapies are well-established for the treatment of certain MetS diseases. Nonpharmacologic therapies, although crucial to MetS therapy and comorbidity avoidance, lack standardization, and organization. Despite this, a number of studies have identified the Mediterranean diet as a proper nutritional strategy for improving metabolic and cardiovascular health.
Concerning the study
Researchers evaluate the effectiveness of the LF-Diet and the Mediterranean diet on metabolic characteristics in non-Mediterranean people who have MetS or are at risk of getting it in the current study.
The research only allowed non-pregnant adults over 18 from non-Mediterranean nations who had a pre-diagnosis of MetS, comorbidities, or co-conditions associated with MetS, or who were at risk of developing MetS to participate. Additionally, the intervention promoted the Mediterranean diet via a variety of delivery methods, and the comparator diet was either an LF Diet or a normal, regional, or customary diet.
Regardless of whether a study used assignment or compliance with the intervention, an intention-to-treat (ITT) evaluation was performed for all analyses. Both before and after the operation, observations were made.
Study results
A total of 1,143 references were found throughout the search, however, after eliminating duplicates, only 778 remained. 116 articles were still available for full-text screening after exclusions. Ten published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two ongoing investigations met the eligibility requirements after the full-text screening.
Between-group differences were negligible or absent in seven out of the nine MetS endpoints. For seven outcomes, including changes in body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting blood glucose (BG), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high DL-C, the impact of the Mediterranean diet did not show statistical significance as compared to control (HDL-C).
The other two MetS outcomes' pooled effect calculations reveal that the Mediterranean diet significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (SBP) and total cholesterol (T-C) compared to the control diet. The researchers expressed significant skepticism regarding the veracity of these estimates since the evidence for both outcomes was deemed of low quality.
No variance was seen for WC, but considerable heterogeneity was seen for eight MetS outcomes, including BW, BG, DBP, HDL-C, LDL-C, SBP, T-C, and TG. Additionally, when therapy lasted six months or longer compared to when it lasted less than six months, the Mediterranean diet had a stronger impact on T-C. The study of subgroup differences also produced an unremarkable result.
When the course of therapy was shorter than six months, HDL-C increased dramatically while SBP somewhat decreased. The interaction analysis revealed that neither result had a distinct impact on HDL-C.
Subgroup analysis revealed that sample size may have a variety of effects. When there were 60 randomly assigned research participants, for instance, SBP and T-C significantly decreased, but the interaction tests were inconsequential.
Randomized trials with less than 60 participants showed a substantial rise in HDL-C. SBP, DBP, and T-C were lowered when neither group received dietary supplements; however, LDL-C dropped only in the Mediterranean diet cohort and not in the comparison group.
No obvious distinction could be detected between the supplement groups. However, SBP and BG fell more significantly when physical activity (PA) and caloric deficit (CD) were added to the Mediterranean diet regimen.
In contrast to the LF-Diet, BG rose dramatically when the Mediterranean diet was given without CD or PA. Tests for subgroup differences showed that CD and PA had different impacts on BG. When neither CD nor PA was introduced to the Mediterranean diet, T-C and LDL-C decreased more drastically.
Conclusions
Overall, the study's findings raise questions about the Mediterranean diet's adaptability. However, due to the few data gathered for each endpoint, the results lack accuracy.
Further studies should look into the Mediterranean diet to prevent and treat MetS and enhance medical processes and delivery due to the cost burden associated with MetS and comorbidities as well as the increased demand for pharmacotherapies.
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