Staying Healthy

Mediterranean diet: Good for your mind and your heart

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Looking for a diet that may protect your heart and blood vessels? The Mediterranean diet is hard to beat. Over the past several years, findings from a landmark clinical trial in Spain have suggested that this plant-based diet—enhanced with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts—lowers the risk of a heart attack, stroke, and death from heart disease. It even appears to lower the odds of atrial fibrillation (a heart rhythm disorder) and peripheral artery disease (a condition in which fatty plaque clogs arteries throughout the body). Now, new data suggest that the diet is also good for your mind.

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