Firefighters who followed Mediterranean diet gained less weight over time.


Firefighters may have a healthful leg up for climbing ladders and putting out fires if they follow a Mediterranean diet rather than rely on fried chicken or fast-food fare or a meat-and-potatoes diet.

A new study shows that Midwestern firefighters who most closely adhered to a Mediterranean diet had fewer risk factors for heart disease than those who didn't eat this type of diet.

The Mediterranean diet is rich in fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts, whole-grain breads and cereals, olives and olive oil, which is considered a healthy monounsaturated fat. The diet promotes the consumption of fish high in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna, trout, sardines) as well as moderate consumption of poultry and wine with meals. It consists of a relatively low intake of red meat, processed meats and sweets.

The diet has been associated with a lower risk of dying from all causes as well as a reduced risk of obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and other risk factors for heart disease.

"If you are eating a burger, fries and a soda, you're on the wrong track," says the study's senior author Stefanos Kales, an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Cambridge Health Alliance. "You have to get your head around eating in a different way that's still delicious. The Greeks, Italians, Spanish and French enjoy their food. It would be better to have a piece of grilled fish or chicken with a salad than a burger and fries."

Kales and colleagues developed a system to analyze Mediterranean diet eating patterns, and used it to score the dietary habits of 780 male firefighters, over age 18, from 11 fire departments in two Midwestern states. They also examined the men's comprehensive medical records including their body weight, height, body fat, blood pressure, blood lipids and physical fitness levels.

Findings published online Tuesday in PLOS One:

• Firefighters who most closely followed the Mediterranean diet had a 35% decreased risk of metabolic syndrome, a combination of heart disease risk factors that includes a large waistline, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides (blood fats) and low HDL (good) cholesterol — compared with those who were following the diet least closely.

• Firefighters following the diet the most closely had a 43% reduced risk of gaining 5 or more pounds over the past five years compared with those who consumed a diet that was the least like the Mediterranean diet.

• Those following the Mediterranean diet were more likely to have higher HDL (good) cholesterol and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.

• Obese firefighters were more likely to report a higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food.

"Almost none of these guys drank wine. Most (60%) drank beer," Kales says.

Many of them were not eating ocean fish on a regular basis, he says. "That could be a combination of geographic and cultural issues. They may not have grown up eating fish. With some education, it would be easy to bring further improvements to their diets."

Dawn Blatner Jackson, a registered dietitian in Chicago, says this study can be added to the huge stack of evidence that "eating wholesome, real foods and cutting back on sugary, processed foods helps decrease risk of all diseases."

You don't need a fad diet to lose weight and decrease disease risk, she says. "You just need to eat produce plus plant proteins (nuts, beans) plus whole grains plus healthy fats."

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