This text must translated very precisely:
The Mediterranean diet is more effective than any medicine in decreasing the mortality of cardiac patients.” So comments a British cardiologist Aseem Malhotra on a recent study.
In an Italian follow-up study it was found that those cardiac patients, who followed the Mediterranean diet, had a 37 % lower risk to die than those whose diet differed from that.
The most important single factor that decreased mortality was abundant eating of vegetables. The second was the eating of fish and then fruits, nuts and the use of Olive oil.
The study does not reveal what exactly in the Mediterranean diet caused the decrease of the risk. However, professor Giovanni de Gaetano assessed that the decrease may have something to do with the anti-inflammatory effect of the Mediterranean diet.
I personally think that the improvement of the antioxidant status and the decreased risk of the blood clot, caused by fish in diet, partly explain the benefits of the Mediterranean diet.