The Mediterranean diet is a form of food based on the traditional kitchens of Greece, Italy and other countries that border the Mediterranean Sea.It includes foods such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices.It also implies the consumption of olive oil, fish, shellfish, dairy and bird meat.
There is evidence that this diet helps prevent heart disease and brain attacks.A new study in the United States revealed that women who adopt a Mediterranean diet reduce the risk of having a type of complication during a pregnancy, which is preeclampsia.
The researchers evaluated the impact on the development of the complication called "preeclampsia."Due to that disorder, women can have high blood pressure, high levels of protein in urine that indicate renal damage or other signs of harm in the organs.
Preeclampsia, usually, begins after 20 weeks of pregnancy in women whose blood pressure has been within normal values until then.If not, preeclampsia can generate serious, even mortal complications, both for the mother and the baby.
The study evaluated the Mediterranean diet and the adverse results of pregnancy.It was conducted by researchers from the SMIDT Heart Institute of CEDARS-SINAI.They discovered that the women who conceived following the Mediterranean diet, which is anti -inflammatory, had a significantly lower risk of developing preeclampsia during pregnancy.
The study was published in the Jama Network Open magazine. “This multicentric and population study confirms that a healthier food pattern is associated with a lower risk of adverse results of pregnancy, the most interesting being a risk of a 28% lower preeclampsia”,Natalie Bello said, main author of the study and director of Hypertension Research at the Smidt Heart Institute.
"It is important to note that this connection between the Mediterranean diet and a lower risk of adverse pregnancy results was observed in a geographical, racially and ethnically diverse population," said Bello.
The researchers discovered that the association was greater in women who are traditionally considered an advanced maternal age, 35 years or more.
In addition to preeclampsia, the risk of gestational diabetes also decreased in women who followed the cardiosaludable diet more closely.The study included 7,798 women.
The pregnant women of their first child were asked to fill in a semicuantitative questionnaire about the frequency of food during the first visit of the study, which took place in the first quarter.
The questionnaire focused on women's eating habits during the three months prior to their visit and asked the participants to inform about their intake of common food and drinks.Then, the answers were classified according to the components of the Mediterranean diet to calculate the score.
The data were collected, analyzed and studied by the researchers and thus demonstrated from the 7,798 registered women, 10% were 35 years or older.11% were non -Hispanic black, 17% Hispanic and 4% were of Asian origin.20% of the registered suffered obesity at the beginning of their participation.
A high score in the Mediterranean diet was related to 21% less likely to have any adverse result of pregnancy, as well as with 28% and 37% less risk of suffering from preeclampsia/eclampsia and gestational diabetes.
“We also analyzed the individual components of the Mediterranean diet and we discovered that greater intake of vegetables, legumes and fish was related to a lower associated risk ofsuffer an adverse result of pregnancy, ”said Bello.
Christine Albert, Chief of the Department of Cardiology, who did not participate in the study, considered that, together, the results demonstrate uniquely that in women the adoption of a Mediterranean diet pattern can represent an important approach to lifestyle forThe prevention of adverse pregnancy results, especially in women with advanced maternal age.
Previously, only three observational studies - each one with a modest number of participants - had investigated the relationship between adhesion to this healthy diet pattern at the time of conception and the risk of developing preeclampsia.
"These results are added to the growing number of tests that show that the Mediterranean diet can play an important role in preservation of women's health throughout their lives, even during pregnancy," Albert said.
However, according to Dr. Bello, long -term studies are needed to assess whether the promotion of a Mediterranean style diet at the time of conception and throughout pregnancy can prevent adverse results of pregnancy and reduce cardiovascular riskfuture.
