NPR

Errors Trigger Retraction Of Study On Mediterranean Diet's Heart Benefits

An anesthesiologist who taught himself statistics identified flaws in an influential study that claimed to prove the Mediterranean diet has cardiovascular benefits. The 2013 paper is being retracted.
Flaws in a study of the Mediterranean diet led to a softening of its conclusions about health benefits. But don't switch to a diet of cotton candy just yet.

Ask just about anybody, and you'll probably hear that a healthy diet is one full of fruits and vegetables, olive oil, nuts and fish — what's called Mediterranean diet. A lot of research has suggested people who eat this way tend to be healthier, but it's been harder to prove whether that is because of the diet or some other factor.

So in 2013, many took notice in the that seemed to provide some proof. The study found that people eating the Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil were 30 percent less likely to experience a heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes than people assigned to a low-fat

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