Mediterranean Diets Benefit Children’s Heart Health as Well as Adult’s
The famed diet seems a health boon at any age.
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Children can reap the benefits of the Mediterranean diet just as well as adults, according to a new meta-analysis.
Researchers from the University of the Americas, Ecuador, reviewed nine previously published clinical trials which assessed how Mediterranean diets can affect cardiovascular health among children and adolescents.
The authors found that just eight weeks of Mediterranean-style nutrition was associated with a significant reduction in blood pressure and total cholesterol.
The results were published in JAMA Network Open.
The Mediterranean effect on the young
Prior to the work of the University of the Americas researchers, there were several hundred published studies on the effects of the Mediterranean diets on the cardiometabolic health of children. There was no known meta-analysis of this literature, however.
To undertake this mammoth review, the researchers sifted through the available studies to find nine randomized controlled clinical trials. These robust studies accounted for 577 participants (59.6% girls, 40.4% boys) with an average age of 11 years. Six of the trials focused on children who were overweight; one trial enrolled children with prediabetes; the other two studies involved “apparently healthy children.”
After assessing the results of all nine trials, the researchers found that, compared to the control groups which didn’t consume a Mediterranean diet, the children who did try the famed European regimen experienced a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure, blood lipids and total cholesterol. The Med-dieting children also experienced an increase in high-density lipoproteins, which are often known as “good cholesterol”.
The researchers believe these changes may be explained by the low levels of saturated fats and higher levels of mono- and poly-unsaturated fats (from olive oil, nuts, fish, etc.) typically found in Mediterranean meals.
The diets’ absence of ultra-processed foods – the class of artificially altered food thought to contribute to the rise of obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancers seen in the Western world – may also have contributed to the health benefits seen in the children.
While the authors do acknowledge the caveats of their analysis – mainly, the small number of trials involved – they nonetheless conclude that Mediterranean diet-based interventions could be vital in curbing cases of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases that some children would otherwise have gone on to develop in later life. Mediterranean diet-based interventions in schools and hospitals could, they say, be a valuable tool for preventing these illnesses and optimizing cardiometabolic health in the younger population.
Reference: López-Gil JF, García-Hermoso A, Martínez-González MÁ, Rodríguez-Artalejo F. Mediterranean Diet and Cardiometabolic Biomarkers in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2024. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.21976
