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Narrative review highlights cardiovascular health improvements in Asians using Mediterranean diet principles, suggesting effective diet interventions.
The Mediterranean diet is the best-proven diet for reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, it has been westernised, with no similar randomised controlled trials for Asian diets in reducing CVD. This narrative review summarises the literature on Asian adaptation of the Mediterranean diet for CVD reduction. It provides an evidence-based foundation for creating Asian-suited diet interventions. Studies were sourced from PubMed, including controlled feeding trials, prospective cohort studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses up to 19 May 2024. The review found cohort data showing improved cardiovascular health across various Asian ethnicities with the application of Mediterranean diet principles. Additionally, certain healthy Asian food ingredients demonstrated unique cardiometabolic benefits in randomised controlled trials, serving as effective substitutes for western ingredients. This review proposes the Heart Healthy Asian Mediterranean dietary pattern, blending Mediterranean diet principles with Asian ingredients, based on a summary of the dietary evidence base for CVD reduction in multi-ethnic Asia.
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Huang et al. (2025) studied this question.
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