With a varied offer of fresh and vibrantly colored foods, the Mediterranean diet – characterized by the consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, shellfish, cereals and legumes, seasoned with abundant olive oil – has established itself for years as one of the healthier eating patterns.
This diet has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, as well as other diseases (including cancer), improved sleep quality, and better gut health.
However, another regional diet has recently been making waves since the publication of a study highlighting that those who adhere to it have a lower risk of suffering from chronic diseases.
It’s the call atlantic dietwhose origins date back to the Celtic peoples who inhabited the European Atlantic arc (and included Ireland, Scotland, South Wales, England, the Isle of Man and the French region of Brittany) and is currently preserved in Galicia and northern Portugal.
According to the study published in JAMA Networkthe journal of the American Medical Association, the Atlantic diet reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome.
This is the combination of high blood pressure, high blood fat levels, obesity and high blood sugar levels, which can lead to heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
“This is a very important finding because metabolic syndrome, today, affects practically 25% of the adult population,” María del Mar Calvo Malvar, specialist in Clinical Analysis at the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, tells BBC Mundo. , Spain, and coordinator of the Clinical Group of the GALIAT Study (Galicia Atlantic Diet), and co-author of the analysis published in JAMA.
The study – a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial – included more than 500 participants.
But what exactly does this eating pattern consist of and how is it different from the Mediterranean diet?
Fresh and local foods
“Like most traditional diets, this diet is characterized by a high consumption of fresh, locally sourced seasonal foodskilometer zero foods,” says Calvo Malvar.
“This includes a high consumption of fruits and of vegetablesof legumesof papas, of cereals, especially whole grains, preferably in the form of pan, of nuts, especially of chestnutsof fishof seafood and of dairy“, keep going.
“The consumption of meat is moderate and many times forming part of dishes that include different types of meats and vegetables, as is also moderate egg consumption”.
The main source of vegetable fat is olive oilboth for cooking and for dressing.
Not only what is eaten but how it is prepared
The diet not only emphasizes the foods that are put on the table, but also the way they are prepared.
Very simple culinary techniques are used, with a minimum preparationas boil food, cook it vapor or in the form of a stew, to maintain both its appearance and its flavor.
Fried foods are avoided.
Nor are sauces or anything used that masks the flavor of the ingredients.
That is to say: from the garden almost directly to the table.
Although Calvo Malvar assures that the diet is affordable, this is not always the case outside the region: in some countries, seafood and fish tend to have a high cost.
Mediterranean vs Atlantic
But how different is this proposal really compared to the Mediterranean diet?
In the opinion of Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Institute of Food and Medicine at Tufts University, in the United States, the Atlantic diet is “essentially a Mediterranean diet.”
“The name Atlantic diet is more of a culinary competition due to a regional rivalrybecause of the cuisine, which makes a real important difference in the diet,” he tells BBC Mundo.
“The biggest difference is that the main staple food is potato instead of pasta, but both have starch”, dice.
“Beyond that, diets are very similar in that they contain fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish… I think it is, essentially, another version of a healthy diet, whose principles are almost identical to those of the Mediterranean diet.”
Calvo Malvar, however, insists that it is a different eating pattern.
“Atlantic gastronomy uses much more vegetables of the genus brassicasuch as turnip greens or cabbage, which have very good nutritional properties and their role in the prevention of different diseases has been demonstrated,” he points out.
“In addition, the consume of fish and seafood is far superior to that of any other dietary pattern in our environment, including the Mediterranean diet. The same goes for dairy, in the form of milk and cheese.
“And finally prioritize wine (in moderate amounts) over beer”says Calvo Malvar.
Distinctions and subtleties aside, what this and much other research makes clear is that regularly consuming fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, legumes, fish, eggs and healthy fats provides us with a wide range of vitamins, minerals, essential fibers and antioxidants to keep us healthy.
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