Mediterranean Diet Affects Gene Associated With Type 2 Diabetes And Stoke Susceptibility

A new study by U.S. and Spanish researchers has found a genetic reason to follow the Mediterranean diet: the food apparently interacts with a gene variant associated with type 2 diabetes and eliminates increased stroke susceptibility. The diet puts people who carry the gene variant on an even playing field with people with one or no copies of the variant. The randomized, controlled trial enrolled more than 7,000 men and women who ate either a Mediterranean or low fat control diet and monitored them for cardiovascular disease, stroke and heart attack for almost five years. Researchers said the findings boost the science of nutrigenomics, the study of the links between nutrition, gene function and human health.