According to a recent Spanish study, Mediterranean diet and daily servings of mixed nuts help to manage metabolic syndrome.

The metabolic syndrome or abnormality is a group of health problems includes abdominal obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and high glucose levels. All these are factors that lead to cardiovascular disease, found in older adults group.

The experiment conducted on 1,200 patients, with ages ranged from 55 to 80 and two thirds of whom were suffering from the syndrome. The control group was given information about a low-fat diet while the other two groups received quarterly education about the Mediterranean diet. One of the Mediterranean diet groups received one liter per week of virgin olive oil, while the other group received 30 grams per day of mixed nuts.

After a year, the results indicate that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome fell by 6.7 % in the group given Mediterranean diet and an extra serving of olive oil.

While those who has been given Mediterranean diet rich in fish, fruit and vegetables as well as 30g of nuts a day, found to be more effective as the prevalence of metabolic syndrome decreased 13.7 %.

The study also found that those on the Mediterranean diet plus eating nuts regularly saw a drop in their waist size, triglycerides and blood pressure compared with those on the low-fat diet.