8 Scientific Health Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet

“I look at it as a Mediterranean lifestyle. It’s not so much what they eat, which is beneficial and anti-inflammatory; it’s in how they eat it,” says Robert E. Graham, MD, MPH, a cofounder of the integrative medicine practice FRESH Medicine in New York City. “They eat it with gusto — flavor. They eat it with family members.”

There’s no one uniform Mediterranean lifestyle or eating pattern because its followers don’t all live in the same place. That complicates the effort to assess the potential health benefits of the diet. “Did you live in Italy? Did you live in Greece? Did you live in Spain? So then, when you do research studies, the diet might be a little different in each,” says Jo Ann Carson, PhD, a former professor of clinical nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a former chair of the nutrition committee for the American Heart Association.

Dr. Carson adds that eating and drinking in moderation may be harder for those living on this side of the Atlantic — particularly because the Mediterranean diet does not set calorie intake guidelines. "I get concerned that someone from the United States will try to add ¼ cup of olive oil to their diet, but they’re not going to cut out some of the sweets … and then they’re going to be getting too many calories,” she says.

With those caveats in mind, here is a look at eight of the touted health benefits of the Mediterranean diet — and the science behind them.

1. The Mediterranean Diet May Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease

Perhaps the most convincing evidence comes from a randomized clinical trial known as the PREDIMED study. For about five years, authors followed 7,000 women and men in Spain who had type 2 diabetes or were at high risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study authors reanalyzed the data at a later point to address a widely criticized flaw in the randomization protocol, and still reported similar results in a trial.

2. A Mediterranean Diet May Reduce Women’s Risk of Stroke

We already know from the PREDIMED study that eating in a Mediterranean fashion lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease in some people. Well, the diet may also reduce stroke risk in women, though researchers didn’t observe the same results in men, according to a cohort study.

Researchers looked at a predominantly white group of 23,232 men and women ages 40 to 77 who lived in the United Kingdom. The more closely a woman followed a Mediterranean diet, the lower her risk of stroke. Yet researchers didn’t see statistically significant results in men. Most notably, in women who were at high risk of stroke, the diet reduced their chances of this health event by 20 percent.

3. A Mediterranean Diet May Prevent Cognitive Decline and Alzheimer’s Disease

As a heart-healthy diet, the Mediterranean eating pattern may also fight the decline in your memory and thinking skills with age. “There is growing evidence that what we eat can impact our brains as we age,” says Claire Sexton, DPhil, the Chicago-based director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Sexton adds that the Mediterranean diet is one diet that may reduce the risk of dementia. “Generally speaking, it is best to eat a heart-healthy diet low in saturated fats and high in vegetables and fruits,” she says. “Such a diet may have vascular and anti-inflammatory properties.”

All that said, more research is needed before recommending this eating approach to lower Alzheimer’s risk. The authors called for additional research in a larger participant group and for a longer study period.

For now, Sexton notes that nutrition is one aspect of helping to stave off cognitive decline, but it’s not the only one. “It is important to also realize that, for maximal benefits, a healthy diet would likely need to be combined with other healthy lifestyle practices to help protect an aging brain,” she says. “Adopting one lifestyle factor, like a healthier diet, may reduce the risk of cognitive decline — but the more healthy lifestyle behaviors you can incorporate, the more cognitive benefit you’re likely to see.” This is an area of research the Alzheimer’s Association is exploring with its U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle.

Sexton says the Mediterranean diet isn’t the only one that may offer brain protection. The blood-pressure lowering DASH diet and MIND diet (MIND stands for Mediterranean–DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay), which is a hybrid of the Mediterranean pattern and the DASH diet, are two others she mentions.

“The jury is still out on any one specific diet being the most beneficial for our brains, and there likely won't be a one-size-fits-all diet that can prevent dementia or cognitive decline in all individuals,” she says.

4. The Mediterranean Diet May Help With Weight Loss and Maintenance

5. A Mediterranean Diet May Stave Off Type 2 Diabetes

For type 2 diabetes management and the possible prevention of the disease, a Mediterranean diet may be the way to go.

6. People With Rheumatoid Arthritis May Benefit From the Mediterranean Diet

7. Are Foods in the Mediterranean Diet Protective Against Cancer?

Indeed, a Mediterranean diet meal plan may help prevent certain types of cancer.

8. Some Foods in the Mediterranean Diet May Ease Depression

The Mediterranean way of eating is linked to lower incidence of depression, according to an analysis of 41 observational studies.

Analysis of pooled data from four longitudinal studies revealed that the diet was associated with a 33 percent reduced risk of depression, compared with participants who followed a “pro-inflammatory diet” (richer in processed meats, sugar, and trans fats) that is more typical of a standard American diet.

The Importance of Moderation When Following a Mediterranean Diet

“Whether you’re thinking of diabetes or cancer or heart disease, we want people to be at a healthy weight and not to be gaining weight unnecessarily. As you’re following the Mediterranean pattern, make sure that you’re doing it in a way that helps you control calories, which is very doable,” she says.