Six percent increase in performance after only four days on Mediterranean Diet
1. More endurance in only four days
If you’re an athlete or do a lot of exercising, you might be interested in this finding. Researchers have found that after eating a Mediterranean Diet, athletes can increase the exercise endurance after only four days.
2. Mediterranean vs. Western diet
Benefits of the Mediterranean diet have been reported in many studies. It’s not surprising, as the Mediterranean diet includes foods like fruits and vegetables, nuts, olive oil and whole grains. Unlike the typical Western diet, it does not contain a lot of red and processed meats, dairy, trans and saturated fats and refined sugars.
We’re all too aware of what’s in the typical Western diet. The Western diet includes a lot of processed food and refined sugar, as well as highly processed vegetable oils and sodium. There’s also much more red and processed meat, and less fruits and vegetables in the typical Western diet. Think fast food.
3. Six percent increase in performance after four days
Researchers at Saint Louis University tested seven women and four men. They ran five kilometers on a treadmill on two occasions – once after four days on a Mediterranean diet and on another occasion after four days on a Western diet. A period of nine to 16 days separated the two tests.
The results – after eating the Mediterranean diet, the running times were 6 percent faster than the Western diet, despite similar heart rates and ratings of perceived exertion in the athletes.
The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
4. You have to stick to the Mediterranean diet, though
One caveat is that the researchers found that the endurance benefits were lost after the athletes switched back to a Western diet. So if you want to get the benefits, you need to stick long-term to a Mediterranean diet.
5. Just another great benefit of the Mediterranean diet
The researchers summarized it quite nicely: “This study provides evidence that a diet that is known to be good for health is also good for exercise performance. Like the general population, athletes and other exercise enthusiasts commonly eat unhealthy diets. Now they have an additional incentive to eat healthy.”
Science Converse Ice Breaker
“Did you know you can increase your exercise endurance after only four days of eating a Mediterranean diet?”
- Researchers at Saint Louis University found athletes increased their running times by six percent after only four days on the Mediterranean diet
- A Mediterranean diet has more fruits, vegetables, nuts and grain and less red, processed meat than a Western diet
- A typical Western diet has more red, processed meat, refined sugars, and saturated fats – think fast food
- The endurance benefits went away, however, after they switched back to a Western diet
Reference: Short-Term Mediterranean Diet Improves Endurance Exercise Performance: A Randomized-Sequence Crossover Trial
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07315724.2019.1568322
