- The Atlantic Diet is a diet popular in Portugal and some regions of Spain and is similar to the Mediterranean Diet. We focus on consuming fresh, local ingredients with minimal processing.
- Her research interests include how this traditional diet can improve health and what impact it has on the environment.
- Research has found that following the Atlantic Diet may reduce your risk of metabolic syndrome. However, the results did not show that diet made a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions.
Research is ongoing into how diet affects people's well-being and their risk of various health problems.
Research on how different diets affect the environment also continues to expand. Ideally, dietary patterns help people achieve their health goals while reducing carbon emissions where possible.
Research published in
Among 574 participants, researchers found that those following the Atlantic diet had a significantly reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.
However, reductions in carbon footprint scores were about the same for the Atlantic diet and control groups. Based on the limitations of the study, further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm the environmental effects of the Atlantic diet.
As the authors of this study also note, the Atlantic Diet is a traditional diet popular in northwestern Spain and Portugal.
Karen Z. Berg, a registered dietitian who was not involved in the study, explained: Today's medical news:
“You don't hear much about the Atlantic Diet, but it is a traditional diet of northwestern Spain and Portugal. It is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, as it focuses on olive oil. It also consumes a lot of seafood, cheese, milk, meat, and wine. Food is generally grilled, baked, It is prepared using simple methods such as stewing.
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of health factors that can increase your risk of stroke and diabetes. A person with metabolic syndrome usually has three or more of the following:
Diet and others
This study included a secondary analysis of another study, the Galician Atlantic Diet Study. The study included adults between the ages of 18 and 85.
Prospective participants will be disqualified from participating if they are pregnant, taking lipid-lowering medications, abuse alcohol, have a terminal illness, have significant cardiovascular disease, or have dementia. Ta.
Participants also had to be part of a family unit of two or more people to participate in the study.
Families were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. Overall, 121 families in the intervention group and 110 families in the control group completed the study.
The groups were similar with respect to baseline characteristics. However, the intervention group was older.
Berg said: “It is interesting that the clinical trials discussed were aimed at whole families and not just individuals. Family support is huge when changing lifestyles, so the fact that changes can be made as a family unit makes it easier to change diets. We believe it has become easier to comply with all aspects.”
The intervention group followed an Atlantic diet and the control group followed a normal lifestyle pattern. The intervention group received nutrition education, cooking classes, and regular food baskets to help them practice the Atlantic diet.
Researchers in the current analysis were able to calculate the carbon footprint associated with the participants' diets. Your personal carbon footprint includes the amount of carbon dioxide you emit into the atmosphere.
The results showed that the intervention group experienced the most improvement in terms of metabolic syndrome. Among participants without metabolic syndrome, only 2.7% in the intervention group developed metabolic syndrome, compared to 7.3% in the control group.
The intervention group was also found to be 42% less likely to develop additional components of metabolic syndrome than the control group.
Mr. Berg commented:
“In this study, we found that the intervention group had a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome after consuming the Atlantic Coast diet for six months. Also, those who already had metabolic syndrome at the start of the trial had a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome. This is an important thing to keep in mind because when people have metabolic syndrome, it is essential to stop or slow the progression of the disease.”
Overall, both groups also saw a reduction in carbon emissions, but the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.
Researchers found that variation in carbon emissions among participants was related to family structure, indicating that family can influence individual changes in food carbon emissions. ing.
The lack of statistical significance may be related to the small sample size. Study author Dr. Mal Calvo Malver, a laboratory medicine specialist at the University Clinical Hospital of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, explained: MNT:
“Food consumption recorded in the intervention group showed that carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 0.17 kg CO2-eq. [kilogram carbon dioxide equivalent] per person per day compared to the consumption recorded by participants in the control group, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. ”
“However,” she added, it should be noted that the lack of statistical significance may be due to the study's limited statistical power to measure environmental parameters. . The study was initially designed to assess metabolic changes in participants. Approximately 2,000 participants would be required to achieve statistical significance. ”
This study had certain limitations that are worth considering. Because this study is a secondary analysis of a previous study, the results face similar limitations. For example, it relied on participant reports.
This study focused on a specific group of people in a specific region. All participants were white, so future research could focus more on diversity.
However, this group had an overall moderate socio-economic and educational level, making the results more generalizable.
Because this study is observational, it cannot prove that following the Atlantic diet prevents metabolic syndrome.
The researchers note that because of the complexity of the intervention, it is not possible to determine exactly which behaviors contributed to the observed results. It is possible that aspects not measured by the researchers or unknown factors were at play.
Because the study received media attention, some participants may have made lifestyle changes as a result. Because participants actually received food baskets, it is difficult to generalize the findings to groups that struggle with accessing food.
Also, the study was conducted for only 6 months, which may not have been enough time to properly examine metabolic changes. The observed environmental results may have been influenced by the diversity of foods included in participant data and the enormous diversity of carbon emissions typically reported in food life cycle assessments.
Looking at carbon emissions, the results were not statistically significant between intervention and control, but this may be related to the small sample size. Large-scale studies could confirm reductions in carbon emissions associated with the Atlantic diet.
Dr. Calvo Malvar said:
“Our findings provide important evidence on the potential of traditional diets to accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 13 (Health and climate action). We believe that we will continue to study the impact of the traditional Atlantic diet on a broader population and in different economic settings. Additionally, we will continue to study the impact of the traditional Atlantic diet on a broader population and in different economic settings. Additionally, we will continue to study the effects of the traditional Atlantic diet on a broader population and in different economic settings. We are exploring ways to encourage adoption of this diet as a strategy for
