Individuals at high cardiovascular risk but without diabetes who followed a Mediterranean diet had half the rate of new-onset diabetes over four years compared with those on a low-fat diet according to a researchers in Spain

The findings come from a substudy of the trial called PREDIMED (Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea), currently underway in Spain, to assess the effects of two Mediterranean diets (supplemented with either extra virgin olive oil or mixed nuts), versus a low-fat diet as a control group.

This substudy involved 418 people without diabetes. After a median follow-up of four years, diabetes incidence was 10.1% in the Mediterranean-diet-with-olive-oil group, 11.0% in the Mediterranean-diet-with-nuts group, and 17.9% in the control group. The details of the diets and protocol of the study can be seen on the PREDIMED Website (http://predimed.onmedic.net/Default.aspx?alias=predimed.onmedic.net/eng).