Mediterranean Diet

Research summary

• The Mediterranean diet is among the most rigorously studied dietary patterns in nutrition science, anchored by the PREDIMED randomized controlled trial, which found reduced cardiovascular events in high-risk adults, alongside decades of large cohort studies (including the influential Greek EPIC cohort) linking adherence to lower mortality.
• Multiple independent reviews converge on consistent cardiovascular and longevity benefits, and the combination of both randomized trial and long-term cohort evidence is a notable strength, since few dietary patterns have this level of trial-based support.
• Some uncertainty remains about which individual components (olive oil, fish, legumes) drive the benefit, but the overall dietary pattern is supported by some of the strongest and most consistent evidence in this dataset.