Impact of Mediterranean Diet on Metabolic Syndrome

AbstractDue to its increasing prevalence and associated health complications, Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) has become both a public health concern and a clinical challenge. Dietary approaches to prevention and treatment of MetS vary, yet nearly all experts agree that the clinical parameters of the syndrome are greatly improved through lifestyle changes including diet. Existing evidence suggest a positive link between adherence to diets with features resembling the principles of the traditional Mediterranean diet (MD) and improvement of metabolic abnormalities. Although, the overall evidence suggests such promising trend, discrepancy of the results can be attributed to factors such as quality, methodology, and the overall design of the studies. Not much clinical application can be instigated from the existing evidence unless several well-designed clinical trials are conducted to investigate the causal associations and potentially define the underlying mechanisms.