Too much southern food can cause a sudden heart attack, but the Mediterranean diet lowers the risk

“Improving your diet – by eating a diet abundant in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish like the Mediterranean diet – and low in fried foods, organ meats and processed meats, hallmarks of the Southern style diet, may decrease a risk of sudden death. of cardiac origin, ”lead author James Shikany said in a statement.

Shikany is Professor of Medicine and Associate Director of Research in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Running belt

Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Regards was designed to find out why “Southerners and black Americans have higher rates of strokes and related diseases that affect brain health.” The study recruited 30,239 black and white participants between 2003 and 2007 and followed them for 10 years.

Shikany and his team looked at the data of some 21,000 people. More than half were from the “stroke belt,” a region of 11 southeastern states where stroke rates are traditionally high. For this study, these states included North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

The study raised interesting health and food safety equity concerns, said Dr. Stephen Juraschek, a member of the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee, who was not involved in the study. study.

“The authors describe the ‘Southern Diet’ based on the American geography associated with this eating pattern, but it would be a mistake to assume that this is a diet of choice,” Juraschek said in a communicated.

“The healthy eating gap between those with and without means continues to widen in the United States, and there is an incredible need to understand the complex societal factors that have driven and continue to perpetuate these disparities. “, he added.

Five diets

The study looked at five eating habits: people who ate sweets on a regular basis; those who ate mainly fast food and other convenience items; a “salad and alcohol” model that mixed beer, wine and alcohol with salad toppings; a plant-based diet (like the Mediterranean); and the traditional southern diet.

“All of the participants had some level of adherence to each model, but generally adhered more to some models and less to others,” said Shikany. “For example, it would not be unusual for an individual who strongly adheres to the Southern model also adheres to the herbal model, but to a much lower degree.”

Apart from the decreased risk of sudden heart attack due to a plant-based diet, the study also found something unusual: People with a history of heart disease who ate a lot of sweets had a risk of sudden death from a diet. cardiac origin 51% lower than those who ate it. some candy.

Why would that be? The researchers had no idea, saying there was “no viable explanation for the inverse association of the diet of sweets with the risk of sudden cardiac death in people with a history of coronary heart disease. “.

Herbal diets

Its principle is simple: eat more vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products while reducing foods high in saturated fat and limiting your salt intake.

The meal plan includes three whole grain products each day, four to six servings of vegetables, four to six servings of fruit, two to four servings of dairy, and several servings each of lean meats and nuts / seeds / legumes.

Say goodbye to refined sugar and flour except on rare occasions. Fats other than olive oil, such as butter, are consumed rarely, if at all.

Red meat can make a rare appearance, usually just to flavor a dish. Instead, meals can include eggs, dairy, and poultry, but in much smaller portions than in the traditional Western diet. Fish, however, is a staple.

“Whenever possible, people should evaluate the number of servings of fruits and vegetables they eat each day and try to increase the number to at least 5 to 6 servings per day, as recommended by the American Heart Association. “Juraschek said. in the statement. “The optimum would be 8-9 servings per day.”