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Mediterranean Diet

Olive Oil Hunter News #276

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Frosty Summer Shake Recipe, Spotlight on Bananas, Storing Bananas, Another Look at Intermittent Fasting, plus More Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet

Few recipes are as simple as smoothies—add ingredients to your blender and whirr! At the height of summer, I like to load up on seasonal fruits…and use frozen bananas to add richness. Feel free to add whatever catches your eye at the farmers’ market. My ingredients fit neatly into the Mediterranean diet, perfectly fitting for the two studies I’m sharing. Both center on this diet, offering more evidence of the powerful benefits of this way of eating.

Frosty Summer Shake

  • Frosty summer shake Frosty Summer Shake

    In the heat of summer, you want a breakfast that’s not only nourishing but also refreshing. This shake delivers on both counts. 

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
    • 3 ounces plain low-fat yogurt or skyr
    • 3 ounces frozen banana slices
    • 4 ounces fresh blueberries
    • 1 peach, halved and pitted
    • 1/2 cup your choice of milk
    • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 tablespoon freshly ground flax seeds

    Directions

    Step 1

    Place all the ingredients in a high-powered blender and process until smooth.

    Step 2

    Serve in two glasses and enjoy.

    Yields 2 servings

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Bananas

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Bananas

Bananas often get a bad rap for being high in carbohydrates, but they’re high in many nutrients and can be part of most people’s diets, according to the American Heart Association. One medium banana has 375 milligrams of potassium, a mineral essential for heart health. For men, that’s about 11% of the RDA, and for women, 16%. You’ll also get magnesium and 5 grams of fiber, along with beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants.

There are some differences between slightly unripe (green) bananas and fully ripe (yellow) bananas. Unripe bananas have resistant starch, a prebiotic fiber that feeds good-for-you probiotics, those beneficial gut bacteria needed for digestion. As bananas ripen, that resistant starch is broken down into natural sugars, making them sweeter. 

ripe bananas
Quick Kitchen Nugget: Storing Bananas

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Storing Bananas

Keep unripe bananas on a counter out of direct sunlight. Once fully yellow, if you’re not going to eat them right away, put them, unwrapped, in the produce drawer of your fridge—the skins will eventually turn brown, but the fruit will stay firm for up to a week. You can also slice ripe bananas, freeze on a tray, and then transfer to a freezer-safe container to have them on hand for smoothies and shakes.

For Your Best Health: Another Look at Intermittent Fasting 

For Your Best Health 

Another Look at Intermittent Fasting 

According to a new study done in Spain and published in the journal Clinical Nutrition, intermittent fasting, or time-restricted eating, may be practical in the short term while also producing effects that continue well beyond the initial program. 

The study followed 99 adults who were overweight or obese. During the first 12 weeks, all participants received education about following a Mediterranean diet. They were then placed into four groups: The control group continued its usual daily eating window of 12 hours or longer. The early fasting group followed an 8-hour window beginning before 10 a.m. The late fasting group used an 8-hour window beginning after 1 p.m. Participants in the self-selected group chose their own 8-hour schedule.

Researchers measured body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass before and after the intervention. They assessed the same measurements again one year after the program had concluded. At that point, both the early and late fasting groups had maintained significantly more weight loss than participants who continued eating across 12 hours or more each day. Those assigned to the early schedule also preserved a larger reduction in fat mass.

The study’s first author, Dr. Alba Camacho Cardeñosa, a researcher at the University Joint Institute for Sport and Health at the University of Granada and a postdoctoral fellow, explained, “To date, although we knew that intermittent fasting promotes modest weight loss in the short term, it was unclear whether its effects were sustained over time. By evaluating the participants 12 months after the intervention ended, we demonstrated that the changes in body weight persist.”

The researchers also said that the routine may be manageable outside a controlled study, stating that one in three people decided to continue practicing intermittent fasting on their own during that year of follow-up. This suggests that it’s a relatively easy habit to integrate into daily life. 

The results also suggest that even a 12-week period of intermittent fasting could provide an effective medium-term option for weight management among adults who are overweight or obese. Because both early and late eating windows produced lasting benefits, patients may be able to choose the schedule that fits their routines most comfortably. That flexibility could make the approach easier to follow and potentially improve its usefulness in obesity treatment.

Fitness Flash Icon: More benefits of theMediterranean Diet

Fitness Flash

More benefits of the Mediterranean Diet 

A Mediterranean-style diet may influence aging through an unexpected biological pathway involving tiny proteins produced inside mitochondria, according to a new study led by researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Mitochondria are best known as the structures that generate energy inside cells, but scientists increasingly recognize that they also release chemical signals that affect metabolism, inflammation, stress responses, and aging.

The researchers found that older adults who followed a Mediterranean diet most closely had higher blood levels of two mitochondrial microproteins, humanin and SHMOOSE. Both have previously been associated with protection against cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration, the gradual loss of nerve cell function seen in conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

The study was led by Roberto Vicinanza, MD, PhD, an instructional associate professor of gerontology at the Davis School. “These microproteins may act as molecular messengers that translate what we eat into how our cells function and age,” Dr. Vicinanza said. “It’s a new biological pathway that helps explain why the Mediterranean diet is so powerful.”

The Mediterranean diet emphasizes olive oil, fish, legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and other minimally processed foods. It generally limits refined carbohydrates, heavily processed products, and foods high in added sugar. Decades of research have linked this eating pattern to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline, and premature death. However, scientists are still working to identify the cellular processes that may produce those benefits.

Mediterranean foods

For the new study, the research team examined blood samples from older adults who followed the Mediterranean diet to different degrees. Participants with the strongest adherence had significantly higher concentrations of humanin and SHMOOSE. They also had lower indicators of oxidative stress—that’s a form of cellular damage caused when unstable molecules known as reactive oxygen species overwhelm the body’s protective systems. Persistent oxidative stress can injure proteins, fats, and DNA and has been associated with aging and many chronic diseases.

The findings suggest that individual parts of the Mediterranean diet may contribute differently to mitochondrial health. Higher consumption of olive oil, fish, and legumes was associated with increased levels of humanin. Olive oil and a lower intake of refined carbohydrates were linked to higher levels of SHMOOSE.

“These findings suggest that specific components of the Mediterranean diet may directly influence mitochondrial biology,” said Pinchas Cohen, MD, USC Distinguished Professor and the study’s senior author. “Humanin and SHMOOSE could serve as biomarkers for adherence to the Mediterranean diet and have clinical significance.” A biomarker is a measurable biological sign that can provide information about health, disease, or how the body is responding to a behavior or treatment. In this case, the two microproteins could potentially help researchers measure how strongly a person’s body is responding to a Mediterranean eating pattern.

The study builds on more than 20 years of research led by Dr. Cohen, who helped pioneer the discovery of peptides produced by mitochondria. Most familiar human proteins are made from instructions contained in the DNA inside the cell nucleus. Mitochondria, however, carry a small amount of their own genetic material, inherited separately from nuclear DNA.

Humanin and SHMOOSE come from short sections of the mitochondrial genome known as small open reading frames. These regions were once thought to have little or no function, but researchers now know that some of them produce biologically active microproteins. Humanin is among the most extensively studied of these molecules. Dr. Cohen and his colleagues first identified it in 2003. Subsequent research has connected it to improved insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular protection, longer life span, and the preservation of cognitive function.

Dr. Cohen’s laboratory later discovered SHMOOSE (Small Human Mitochondrial ORF Over SErine tRNA), which has been linked to brain health. One genetic variant of SHMOOSE has been associated with a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while the normal form appears to help shield neurons from damage related to amyloid, a protein that can accumulate abnormally in the brain and form plaques, one of the major biological features associated with Alzheimer’s.

“These peptides are emerging as key regulators of aging biology,” Dr. Cohen said. “They connect mitochondrial function to diseases like Alzheimer’s and heart disease and now, potentially, to nutrition.”

The researchers also identified a possible connection between humanin and Nox2, an enzyme involved in producing reactive oxygen species. Although reactive oxygen species play useful roles in normal cell signaling and immune defenses, excessive production can damage tissues and increase oxidative stress. Higher humanin levels were associated with lower Nox2 activity. This relationship suggests that humanin could help limit oxidative damage and provide added protection for the heart and blood vessels.

The researchers propose that the Mediterranean diet may protect the cardiovascular system in two complementary ways. It may directly reduce oxidative stress while also increasing mitochondrial microproteins that help restrain damaging cellular pathways. “This could represent a new cardioprotective mechanism of the Mediterranean diet,” Dr. Vicinanza said.

Dr.Vicinanza has also worked to promote the Mediterranean diet beyond the laboratory, presenting it as a model not only for health, but also for culture and environmental sustainability.

He has collaborated with the Municipality of Pollica in Italy, a UNESCO Mediterranean Diet emblematic community, to support the creation of the International Day of the Mediterranean Diet at the United Nations, an observance that will take place each year on November 16. Its goal is to increase awareness of the Mediterranean diet’s health, cultural, and environmental importance around the world.

Dr. Vicinanza said that mission reflects the broader implications of the new findings. “We’re connecting centuries-old dietary traditions with cutting-edge molecular biology,” he said. “It supports the idea that healthy eating patterns with little to no ultra-processed foods reflect how humans have eaten over long periods and may create conditions to which mitochondria—ancient cellular organelles—are likely adapted.”

The study was relatively small and observational. That means it identified associations between diet and microprotein levels but could not prove that following the Mediterranean diet directly caused those biological changes. Other factors, including physical activity, overall health, medication use, genetics, and lifestyle, could also have influenced the findings. Even with those limitations, the results point toward a developing field known as precision nutrition. This approach aims to use biological measurements, genetics, metabolism, and other personal characteristics to design dietary recommendations that are more individualized than standard nutrition advice.

Humanin, SHMOOSE, and related mitochondrial microproteins could eventually help scientists determine which dietary patterns are producing beneficial cellular effects in a particular person.

Future studies will test whether changing a person’s diet can directly raise levels of these peptides and whether those increases result in a measurable reduction in disease risk. “Our goal is to move from observing associations to understanding causality,” Dr. Vicinanza said. “If we can harness these pathways, we may be able to design nutritional strategies that promote healthy aging at the molecular level.”

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Olive Oil Hunter News #268

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Marinated Mozzarella Pearls Recipe, Spotlight on Mozzarella, Storing Jars, The Fat Conundrum, and The Smarter Mediterranean Diet

It’s not quite summer and I’m already looking for recipes that don’t involve turning on the oven! This mozzarella dish fits the bill. It couldn’t be more flavorful…or simpler. The cheese is the perfect foil for fresh-pressed olive oil—I know you’ll be serving it from now through autumn! One of the two new studies I’m sharing reveals that excess weight poses different threats for women and men, while the other presents a possible solution for everyone: an approach called the “smarter” Mediterranean diet. Read on for the details.

Marinated Mozzarella Pearls

  • Marinated Mozzarella Pearls Marinated Mozzarella Pearls

    Add zest to mozzarella with this flavorful marinade. Pearls are cheese balls about the size of cherry tomatoes. Serve them as a finger food or pair with tomatoes for a first course. 

    Ingredients

    • 1 medium lemon
    • 1 garlic clove
    • 1/4 cup finely chopped mix of fresh parsley and basil leaves
    • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
    • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt 
    • 16 ounces mozzarella pearls

    Directions

    Step 1

    Use a Microplane set over a medium bowl to zest the lemon (reserve the rest of the lemon for another recipe) and grate the garlic. Add the herbs, red pepper, olive oil, and salt if using and whisk well.

    Step 2

    Place the mozzarella into a half-pint lidded jar. Drizzle the olive oil mixture over the pearls and let marinate on the counter for 30 minutes. If not eating right away, cover and refrigerate (bring to room temperature before serving). 

    Serves 8

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Fresh Mozzarella 

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Fresh Mozzarella 

Fresh mozzarella and tomatoes

Handcrafted fresh mozzarella, now available in many food markets, is a versatile cheese, ready to be enjoyed cold or melted in hot dishes. True Italian mozzarella is mozzarella di bufala, or mozzarella made from milk of the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. In the US, it is almost always made from cow’s milk, though a handful of artisanal makers are raising buffalo to produce more authentic varieties and some Italian makers export the real thing.

Debunking cheese’s negative health rap, research published in the journal Advances in Nutrition found moderate evidence suggesting that eating cheese doesn’t increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and may even offer some protection from these ills. Fresh mozzarella, in particular, is considered one of the healthier cheeses, due to its low fat and sodium content along with 7 grams of protein and over 200 mg of calcium per ounce.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Storing Jars

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Storing Jars

With the move away from plastics, there are many glass options for storing food. Round clip top jars made by companies including Kilner and Weck are cylindrical containers with a hinged metal clamp and replaceable rubber seal. Great for storing dry staples like flour, grains, pasta, even teas, they’re also perfect for marinating and pickling vegetables. Mason jars go one step further—thanks to their tempered glass, they can withstand the heat of boiling water, making them ideal for canning. To meet kitchen needs, consider a range of sizes: half-pint (1 cup), pint (2 cups), quart (4 cups), and half-gallon (8 cups).

For Your Best Health: The Fat Conundrum

For Your Best Health 

The Fat Conundrum

New findings presented by a research team from Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) highlight clear differences in how obesity affects men and women. 

“Our findings reveal intriguing differences in the way men and women respond to obesity,” said lead author Dr. Zeynep Pekel. “They show just how important gender-specific research is. Not only are sex differences a powerful player in the pathology and course of obesity, but our results indicate that such differences could be a stepping stone toward finding targeted, sex-based therapies to help in the management of people living with obesity.”

Their findings showed that men with obesity are more likely to accumulate abdominal (visceral) fat. This type of fat surrounds internal organs and is strongly linked to serious heart and metabolic conditions. They had a slightly higher body mass index (BMI) than women (37.5 vs 36.0 kg/m²), but their waist circumference was much larger (120 vs 108 cm), and their systolic blood pressure was also higher (128 vs 122 mmHg), two factors linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The men also had significantly higher levels of liver enzymes (ALT and GGT), triglycerides, and creatinine. These findings point to a greater likelihood of liver-related and metabolic complications.

Women with obesity, on the other hand, had higher total cholesterol (215 vs 203 mg/dL) and LDL or “bad” cholesterol (130 vs 123 mg/dL). They typically store more fat beneath the skin and showed higher levels of inflammatory markers, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and platelet count, raising the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. 

“It’s still early days and these findings need to be confirmed in other patient groups, but they offer important insight into how obesity may affect men and women differently,” said Dr. Pekel. “These differences are likely influenced by biological factors such as hormones, immune responses, and fat distribution. Our next steps are to validate these findings in larger populations, better understand the biological processes behind these differences, and explore how these patterns relate to clinical risk.”

Fitness Flash Icon: The Smarter Mediterranean Diet 

Fitness Flash

The Smarter Mediterranean Diet 

Mediterranean foods

The Mediterranean diet is already famous for its heart and metabolic benefits. Now a large European study called the PREDIMED-Plus Trial revealed that a lower-calorie Mediterranean diet may work even better against type 2 diabetes when paired with three realistic upgrades: eating fewer calories, moving more, and getting professional support for weight loss.

The trial found that this more structured version of Mediterranean living reduced the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 31% over six years. Participants also lost more weight (3.3 kg), reduced abdominal fat more effectively, and reduced waist circumference by 3.6 cm, compared to those following a standard Mediterranean diet alone. 

In real world terms, the researchers estimated that the program prevented about three cases of type 2 diabetes for every 100 participants. For a condition affecting hundreds of millions of people globally, that kind of prevention could add up quickly if applied broadly among people at elevated risk.

“Diabetes is the first solid clinical outcome for which we have shown — using the strongest available evidence — that the Mediterranean diet with calorie reduction, physical activity, and weight loss is a highly effective preventive tool,” said Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Navarra, Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at Harvard University, and one of the principal investigators of the project. “Applied at scale in at-risk populations, these modest and sustained lifestyle changes could prevent thousands of new diagnoses every year. We hope soon to show similar evidence for other major public health challenges.”

“The Mediterranean diet acts synergistically to improve insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation. With PREDIMED-Plus, we demonstrate that combining calorie control and physical activity enhances these benefits,” explained Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Professor and Chair of Preventive Medicine and Public Health Department at the University of Navarra’s School of Medicine and first author of the study. “It is a tasty, sustainable, and culturally accepted approach that offers a practical and effective way to prevent type 2 diabetes — a global disease that is, to a large extent, avoidable.”

The project is the largest nutrition trial conducted in Europe and involved the University of Navarra along with more than 200 researchers from 22 other Spanish universities, as well as hospitals and research centers. The work was carried out in more than 100 primary care centers within Spain’s National Health System.

Since the PREDIMED-Plus diabetes findings were prepared, related research has continued to strengthen the broader picture. A PREDIMED-Plus body composition analysis published in JAMA Network Open found that the energy-reduced Mediterranean diet plus physical activity helped reduce total and visceral fat while slowing age-related loss of lean mass in older adults with overweight or obesity and metabolic syndrome. That matters because visceral fat and declining muscle are closely tied to cardiometabolic risk.

More recent PREDIMED-Plus work has also explored how sedentary time may affect cardiovascular health. A 2026 study in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders reported that replacing sedentary time with physical activity was associated with favorable five-year changes in high-sensitivity troponin T, a blood marker related to heart stress, although the pattern was not consistent across all atrial fibrillation–related biomarkers.

A 2026 analysis from the original PREDIMED trial also highlighted the possible importance of food quality within the diet. Participants with higher cumulative intake of extra virgin olive oil had a lower risk of a broad cardiovascular outcome, while common olive oil showed weaker associations. The finding supports a practical message for readers: the Mediterranean diet is not only about eating less or eating more plants. The type and quality of fats may matter too.

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Olive Oil Hunter News #263

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Black-and-White Cookies Recipe, Spotlight on Vanilla Pods, Rotating Cookie Sheets, Coffee and Brain Health and A Surprising Way to Make Exercise Work Better

Vanilla or chocolate? You don’t have to decide when you indulge in a classic black-and-white cookie, the treat that’s more cake than biscuit with two luscious glazes. I’m also sharing two interesting food-related studies. According to the first, drinking coffee or tea could protect brain health. And according to the second, the keto diet could boost the effects of exercise for some people with high blood sugar.

Black-and-White Cookies

  • Black-and-white cookies Black-and-White Cookies

    Why choose between vanilla and chocolate when you can have both? The iconic black-and-white cookie settles the age-old debate once and for all — a pillowy, cake-like base topped with two luscious glazes that are as striking to look at as they are to eat.

    Ingredients

    For the cookies: 

    • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 
    • 3/4 cup cake flour 
    • 1/4 cup golden or white whole wheat flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder  
    • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt 
    • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 
    • 1 cup granulated sugar 
    • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    • 1 large egg 
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
    • 1/3 cup sour cream 

    For the glazes:

    • 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted, more if needed
    • 7 tablespoons whole milk, divided use  
    • 2 tablespoons corn syrup 
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt 
    • 4 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted 
    • 2 ounces dark chocolate, melted

    Directions

    Step 1

    Place an oven rack in the center position and preheat your oven to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper; set aside. Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

    Step 2

    Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the olive oil, egg, and vanilla and mix until well blended. Turn off the machine and use a spatula to scrape up the bottom of the bowl to make sure no clumps of butter remain. 

    Step 3

    On the lowest speed, add half the flour mixture, then the sour cream, then the rest of the flour. Again, use the spatula to incorporate any batter stuck on the bottom of the bowl. Turn back on the mixer if needed to fully incorporate the flour. The batter will be thick.

    Step 4

    Use a 2¼” (¼-cup) ice cream scoop to form and release each cookie onto the sheet pans, evenly spacing 6 per pan. For the most even results, bake one sheet pan at a time in the middle rack. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake another 10 minutes, just until the cookie edges are barely browned. Cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

    Step 5

    When the cookies are completely cooled, make the vanilla glaze. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, 5 tablespoons milk, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt until smooth; it should be thick enough to drop from the whisk in a ribbon. If too thin, whisk in more confectioners’ sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. 

    Step 6

    Working one cookie at a time, use a thin offset spatula to glaze one half of each cookie, using about half of the vanilla glaze (reserve the rest for the chocolate glaze). Let the glaze set for about 15 minutes. Rinse and dry the spatula. 

    Step 7

    In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons of milk and a large spoonful of the vanilla glaze into the cocoa until smooth. Whisk in the melted chocolate, then scrape it into the bowl of reserved vanilla glaze. Whisk until smooth. Use the spatula to spread the chocolate glaze on the unglazed side of each cookie (don’t worry about being too exact with the dividing line). 

    Step 8

    Let the glaze set for 30 minutes before eating. Allow the cookies to dry completely, an hour or more, before storing them in a single layer in cookie tins.

    Yields 12 cookies

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight: Vanilla Pods

Healthy Ingredient Spotlight

Vanilla Pods

Vanilla pods and flower

One of the most tantalizing tastes in the world, vanilla comes from pods that grow on a specific orchid, Vanilla planifolia—the only orchid grown commercially for its fruit. Producing the coveted pods is labor-intensive. Following hand pollination, it takes nine months for the pods to ripen and another three months to cure. (The process to create vanilla extract and vanilla paste takes even more time.) 

Within each vanilla pod are thousands of seeds that add rich flavor and visual appeal to baked goods, custards, and ice cream. To get at the seeds, use the tip of a sharp paring knife to score the length of the pod, then one side of the blade to scrape them out. Add the leftover pod to a jar of sugar to make your own vanilla sugar for other recipes.

Quick Kitchen Nugget: Rotating Cookie Sheets

Quick Kitchen Nugget

Rotating Cookie Sheets

When baking cookies, rotating the sheet pan or cookie sheets halfway through the bake time is better for even rising and browning. This is true even when baking one sheet at a time. If a recipe suggests baking two sheets at one time, you want to not only rotate each one, but also switch their positions in the oven.  

For Your Best Health: Coffee and Brain Health

For Your Best Health 

Coffee and Brain Health

Coffee for health

Couples who intentionally pause to appreciate the enjoyable experiences they share tend to be more satisfied in their relationships, argue less, and feel more confident that their partnership will endure, according to researchers at the University oYour morning coffee or tea could be quietly supporting your brain health. A large prospective cohort study conducted by researchers from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard examined data from 131,821 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS). It found that moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee or tea was linked to an 18% lower risk of dementia, slower cognitive decline, and better preservation of cognitive abilities. The benefits appeared strongest at 2 to 3 cups of coffee or 1 to 2 cups of tea daily—and even held true for people genetically predisposed to dementia. The study was published in JAMA.

“When searching for possible dementia prevention tools, we thought something as prevalent as coffee may be a promising dietary intervention—and our unique access to high quality data through studies that have been going on for more than 40 years allowed us to follow through on that idea,” said senior author Daniel Wang, MD, ScD, associate scientist with the Channing Division of Network Medicine in the Mass General Brigham Department of Medicine, and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School. “While our results are encouraging, it’s important to remember that the effect size is small and there are lots of important ways to protect cognitive function as we age. Our study suggests that caffeinated coffee or tea consumption can be one piece of that puzzle.”

Preventing dementia early is especially important because current treatments are limited and generally provide only modest benefits after symptoms begin. As a result, scientists are increasingly focusing on lifestyle factors, including diet, that may influence the development of cognitive decline.

Coffee and tea contain compounds such as polyphenols and caffeine, which are thought to support brain health. These substances may help reduce inflammation and limit cellular damage, both of which are linked to cognitive decline. Previous research on coffee and dementia has produced mixed results, often due to shorter study periods or limited data on long-term consumption patterns and different types of beverages.

“We also compared people with different genetic predispositions to developing dementia and saw the same results, meaning coffee or caffeine is likely equally beneficial for people with high and low genetic risk of developing dementia,” said lead author Yu Zhang, MBBS, MS, a PhD student at Harvard Chan School and a research trainee at Mass General Brigham.f Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Soaking in their happy moments together—whether reminiscing about a favorite memory, enjoying a dinner together, or looking forward to something exciting—may be building a powerful shield for their relationship. 

Fitness Flash Icon: A Surprising Way to Make Exercise Work Better

Fitness Flash

A Surprising Way to Make Exercise Work Better

Advice about staying healthy often centers on regular exercise and limiting fatty foods. Physical activity helps people shed excess weight, build muscle, and strengthen the heart. It also improves the body’s ability to absorb and use oxygen to produce energy, which is considered one of the most reliable indicators of long-term health and longevity.

However, people with high blood sugar frequently miss out on some of these benefits from exercise, particularly improvements in how efficiently their bodies use oxygen. Elevated blood sugar raises the risk of heart and kidney disease. It can also interfere with the ability of muscles to increase oxygen uptake during physical activity. For people facing this challenge, new research suggests an unexpected possibility. Instead of reducing fat intake, increasing it might help.

A study led by Sarah Lessard, PhD, associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Center for Exercise Medicine Research and exercise medicine researcher, and published in Nature Communications examined how diet affects exercise response. The team found that mice fed a high-fat ketogenic diet experienced a drop in high blood sugar, also known as hyperglycemia. Their bodies also became more responsive to exercise.

“After one week on the ketogenic diet, their blood sugar was completely normal, as though they didn’t have diabetes at all,” said Dr. Lessard. “Over time, the diet caused remodeling of the mice’s muscles, making them more oxidative and making them react better to aerobic exercise.”

The ketogenic diet gets its name from ketosis, a metabolic state in which the body switches from using sugar as its main fuel to burning fat. Because the diet relies on high-fat foods and severely limits carbohydrates, it contrasts with the low-fat diets traditionally recommended by many health experts.

The keto diet has been associated with health benefits for certain conditions, including epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease. Historically, it was also used to manage diabetes. Before insulin was discovered in the 1920s, doctors sometimes relied on this approach to help lower blood sugar.

Dr. Lessard’s earlier studies showed that people with elevated blood sugar often have reduced exercise capacity. This led her to explore whether a ketogenic diet could help restore the body’s ability to adapt to exercise. In the study, mice ate a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet and ran regularly on exercise wheels. Over time, their muscles developed more slow-twitch fibers, which are linked to greater endurance. “Their bodies were more efficiently using oxygen, which is a sign of higher aerobic capacity,” Dr. Lessard said.

According to Dr. Lessard, exercise benefits nearly every tissue in the body, including fat tissue. But growing evidence suggests that the greatest improvements in health occur when diet and exercise are combined rather than treated as separate strategies.

“What we’re really finding from this study and from our other studies is that diet and exercise aren’t simply working in isolation,” said Dr. Lessard. “There are a lot of combined effects, and so we can get the most benefits from exercise if we eat a healthy diet at the same time.”

She plans to expand the research to human participants to determine whether people experience the same improvements seen in mice. She also points out that following a ketogenic diet can be difficult. For many people, a less restrictive eating plan such as the Mediterranean diet may be easier to maintain while still supporting healthy blood sugar levels. This approach includes carbohydrates from whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains instead of eliminating carbohydrates entirely. “Our previous studies have shown that any strategy you and your doctor have arrived at to reduce your blood sugar could work,” she said.

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The Mediterranean Diet shows significant benefit in chronic skin diseases

Posted on by The Olive Oil Hunter

Psoriasis, acne, and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) are chronic inflammatory skin conditions characterized by systemic inflammation and periodic flare-ups. The Mediterranean Diet (MeDi), which emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, fish, and EVOO, has proven anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Here, we present recent evidence1 supporting that the MeDi, as part of a comprehensive treatment plan, may reduce the severity and flare-ups of these chronic skin conditions.

Psoriasis typically presents as itchy, red skin plaques, sometimes painful, with silvery borders. About 40% of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis, which can lead to irreversible joint damage.

Several studies show that closely following the MeDi is linked to lower psoriasis severity. (MeDi adherence was measured by scores on the 14-item PREDIMED food questionnaire.) People with the least adherence to the MeDi had the most severe psoriasis.

Notably, higher intake of EVOO and more consumption of fish (a main source of omega-3 fatty acids) were independently linked to less severe psoriasis and lower levels of CRP (C-reactive protein), a measure of inflammation. These findings suggest that both the MeDi as a whole, and the individual components of EVOO and fish, exert anti-inflammatory and protective effects in psoriasis via bioactive compounds, in particular MUFAs and vitamin D.

Acne has multiple contributing factors (genetic, environmental, bacterial) and, although it often emerges during adolescence, persists into the 20s and 30s in many people.

In a case-controlled study, participants with acne had significantly lower PREDIMED scores than did controls. Those with less severe acne were significantly more likely to consume EVOO, fish, and fruit; more severe acne was linked to lower adherence to the MeDi. (Another case-controlled study showed no significant association between the MeDi and acne severity.)

A separate study found that participants with higher MeDi adherence had lower systemic levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), a protein that plays a key role in the development of acne.

HS is marked by painful lesions (boils) that often form in body areas with skin folds, such as the armpits, chest, and groin; these lesions can lead to scarring. Of all chronic skin conditions, HS has the most debilitating impact on quality of life.2

Three studies have confirmed a link between close adherence to the MeDi and lower HS disease severity. A large cross-sectional study found that consuming EVOO and choosing poultry over red meat were the main factors linking the MeDi to less severe HS in participants. Evidence indicates that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory components of the MeDi—in particular, MUFAs, omega-3s, and polyphenols—can help reduce the severity of HS.

Key takeaway: The anti-inflammatory, antioxidant benefits of the MeDi distinguish it as a valid medical nutrition therapy (MNT) for the management of chronic inflammatory skin conditions, as
a holistic complement to pharmacological treatments.

References: 1. Annunziata G et al. Curr Nutr Reports. 2025;14(1):42. 2. Balieva F et al. Br J Dermatol. 2017;176(5):1170-1178.