Integrative Medicine Grand Rounds (Research) Event Date: June 4th, 2019

Mediterranean Diet
to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases of Aging

The Mediterranean diet has been associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events but the precise mechanisms through which Mediterranean diet intake may reduce long-term risk of CVD are not well understood.

Using a prospective study of over 25,000 initially healthy women enrolled in the BWH/HMS Women’s Health Study, who were followed up to 12-years, Dr. Mora evaluated potential mediating effects of a panel of biomarkers that represent different CVD pathways and clinical factors.

Women consuming a Mediterranean-type diet had up to a quarter reduction in CVD events over long-term follow-up. Dr. Mora will present the research. Watch the livestream of the lecture.

Sponsored by The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine is a collaboration between Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. It is focused on enhancing human health, resilience and quality of life through translational research, clinical practice and education in integrative medicine.

About the Speaker

Samia Mora, MD, MHS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. She is a cardiovascular medicine specialist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she is the Director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics. She also has joint appointments in the Divisions of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Women’s Health.

Dr. Mora received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her medical degree from Harvard Medical School. She completed an internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and a cardiovascular disease fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she also obtained a Masters in Health Science (Epidemiology) from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is board certified in cardiovascular disease and echocardiography, and is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and American Society of Echocardiography. She also serves on the Editorial Boards of JAMA Internal Medicine and Atherosclerosis.

Dr. Mora’s clinical interests include cardiovascular prevention, lipids, modifiable risk factors, and women’s health. The author of over 140 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Mora’s research focuses on risk factors and prevention of cardiovascular disease. She is actively involved with several randomized clinical trials and observational studies, having served on the Endpoints Committee of the Women’s Health Study, the Clinical Coordinating Committee of the JUPITER trial, and currently on the Steering Committee of the VITAminD and OmegA-3 Trial (VITAL), and the Harvard Investigator on the Gulf Population Risks and Epidemiology of Vascular Events and Treatment (Gulf PREVENT) study. Dr. Mora recently developed the free Aspirin-Guide mobile app (available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and on the web).

Date/Time: Tuesday, June, 4 | 8-9am
Venue: Bornstein Family Amphitheater, BWH, 45 Francis St. Boston, MA

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What is a Mediterranean Diet Any way?

The following description is from the Mayo Clinic’s website (read more)

Fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains

The Mediterranean diet traditionally includes fruits, vegetables, pasta and rice. For example, residents of Greece eat very little red meat and average nine servings a day of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.

Grains in the Mediterranean region are typically whole grain and usually contain very few unhealthy trans fats, and bread is an important part of the diet there. However, throughout the Mediterranean region, bread is eaten plain or dipped in olive oil — not eaten with butter or margarines, which contain saturated or trans fats.

Nuts are another part of a healthy Mediterranean diet. Nuts are high in fat (approximately 80 percent of their calories come from fat), but most of the fat is not saturated. Because nuts are high in calories, they should not be eaten in large amounts — generally no more than a handful a day. Avoid candied or honey-roasted and heavily salted nuts.