The Mediterranean Diet has been popular for many years, defying its classification by some skeptics as a “fad diet” that would come and go like so others.
Since its inception in mainstream culture, many scientific studies have tested the health benefits of this diet compared to others.
Most of these studies have shown numerous benefits including lowered cholesterol, improved blood pressure, and most recently, the digestive system.
What is the Mediterranean Diet?
The primary distinguishing feature of the Mediterranean Diet is its focus on the consumption of healthy fats such as avocado and olive oil combined with hearty doses of simply-prepared dishes loaded with fruits and vegetables. Grains are also featured prominently in the Mediterranean Diet.
What distinguishes this diet from the traditional Western diet is the absence of processed foods like sodas and candies that unnecessarily burden the system with excessive amounts of sugar and other food additives that lack nutritional value and often trigger inflammation.
Inflammation’s Role in Gut Health
The process of inflammation wreaks havoc on a number of the body’s systems, including the digestive one.
Inflammation occurs when the body’s immune system responds to what it perceives to be a threat or unwanted substances in the body.
When the gut becomes inflamed, this can lead to a number of chronic conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or the even more serious Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Symptoms can include impaired nutrient absorption, stomach pain, and inconsistent bowel movements.
Many patients suffering from these common digestive disorders recorded impressive progress when they switched to a plant-based diet with a focus on healthy fats like the Mediterranean Diet.
As an added benefit, the Mediterranean Diet is much easier to commit to than other popular diets because it still allows so many delicious options for food.
Many practitioners become lifelong devotees to the diet and continue it even after their health has improved.
The Latest Science on Mediterranean Diet and Gut Health
Recent research has shed new light on how a Mediterranean Diet can improve gut health directly.
The researchers studied 612 participants from around Europe in their 60s and 70s. One group was fed the plant-based, healthy fat-rich diet that is the signature of the Mediterranean Diet and the other group was fed a conventional western diet.
The researchers noticed a rapid improvement in the Mediterranean Diet group’s inflammation levels, bone strength, and mental performance.
The scientists continued to monitor the group to discover that the number of diet-positive microbes, the bacteria that can thrive on the Mediterranean Diet, increased substantially in the subjects fed the alternative diet while the diet-negative microbes, which cannot digest the foods of the Mediterranean Diet, decreased in number.
This is important because the diet-positive microbes are known to lower inflammation throughout the body while the diet-negative microbes have the opposite effect of increasing inflammation.
The Takeaway
Switching to a plant-based diet rich in healthy fats can have profound positive implications for your gut health, as proven by recent scientific research.
