The health benefits that Mediterranean foods bring are undisputed. However, recent research shows that this type of diet also poses certain risks, as the food could contain numerous dangerous environmental pollutants. According to the study authors,organically produced foodshowever, offer an alternative solution.
How Mediterranean foods could endanger your health
Scientists from the University of Oslo and universities in other countries conducted the new study, making a rather surprising discovery. People who participated and consumed a Mediterranean diet with normally grown foods consumed three times as many environmental pollutants. The researchers compared these values with a normal Western diet. Before and after the period of adhering to a Mediterranean diet plan, all participants ate their usual food. In the group of participants who consumed organically grown Mediterranean foods, levels of environmental pollutants fell by 90%. According to researchers, a dangerous environmental pollutant can negatively affect hormones in the body. There is also increasing evidence that such toxins can weaken the immune system and perhaps also fertility. When hormones become imbalanced, they can also affect children's growth and development.
Accordingly, the team tested the participants' urine and examined what contaminants were present in the food they ate. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains grown conventionally represent some of the major sources of environmental pollutants. Both farmed and wild fish can contain environmental pollutants, but usually in small amounts. Before the study began, participants were at home eating what the researchers call a regular Western diet. The research team then analyzed Mediterranean foods to determine the presence of contaminants. The study results showed that the group that ate a Mediterranean diet based on conventionally produced foods had three times as many environmental pollutants in their urine. The other group, who ate an organic Mediterranean diet, had 90% fewer environmental contaminants in their urine compared to conventionally produced Mediterranean foods. The authorsthis studyHowever, we cannot yet recommend definitive dietary guidelines as these require further research.
