Green Mediterranean diet promotes proximal aortic destiffening better than healthy Mediterranean diet, finds study

The green Mediterranean, high-polyphenols diet substantially regresses proximal aortic stiffness (PAS), a marker of vascular aging and increased cardiovascular risk. The green Mediterranean diet was pitted against the healthy Mediterranean diet and a healthy guideline-recommended control diet in the DIRECT PLUS, a large-scale clinical intervention trial. Researchers found that the green Mediterranean diet regressed proximal aortic stiffness by 15%, the Mediterranean diet by 7.3%, and the healthy dietary guideline-directed diet by 4.8%.