How the Mediterranean diet helps you age well by protecting brain and body health

Eating whole, minimally processed foods with an emphasis on plant-based dishes has many benefits that can help us as we age, an expert says

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From reducing inflammation and pain from arthritis and lowering cholesterol to improving brain and heart health, the Mediterranean diet can help you age extremely well, an expert says. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:45pm, 17 Jul 2024

Healthful eating is important at any age to lower the risk of obesity and keep the heart and everything else inside the body functioning well.

This becomes especially crucial later in life, because good nutrition helps reduce the risk of chronic conditions like hypertension, high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease.

Being smart about what you eat also can affect your mood no matter your age – ultra-processed foods that include hydrogenated oils and high-fructose corn syrup, for instance, can increase the risk of depression – and some studies even suggest that healthy eating patterns can help delay or prevent developing dementia as we get older.

One way to improve your health while also eating some really wonderful foods is to follow the Mediterranean style of eating, says Natalie Bruner, a registered dietitian and nutritionist with St Clair Health, part of the Mayo Clinic Care Network in Pittsburgh, in the US state of Pennsylvania.

The Mediterranean diet emphasises whole, minimally processed foods such as beans, seeds and legumes, antioxidant-rich fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, and moderate portions of lean protein like seafood. Photo: Shutterstock

Also known as the Mediterranean diet, it is not so much a “diet” in the traditional sense, which is often defined by a bunch of hard-and-fast rules such as calorie counting and macro-tracking what you put in your mouth. Eating Mediterranean style is more of a lifestyle.