Mediterranean Diet: Prevent Cancer, Heart Disease with Red Wine and Apples

The Mediterranean diet is an ancient eating habit used by the Mediterranean people.

It's not a strict diet but a philosophy to approach foods.

It's based on 7 simple foods categories:

- Fresh fruit (Apples, Pears, berries, oranges, lemons)
- Vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions, eggplants, zucchini)
- Beans
- Pasta and bread
- Meat (poultry, rabbit, fish, goat)
- Red wine
- Milk and Cheese (from sheep)

An example of a typical eating day is based on 5 phases

- Breakfast
- Snack (11:00 AM)
- Lunch
- Snack (18:00 PM)
- Dinner

The base concept of this diet is the "Unique plate". It means to join together different food categories.

Some examples are:

- Pasta with beans (fiber, carbs and veg. proteins)
- Pizza (veg, proteins and carbs)
- Greek salads (veg. and fruit)

So...why the Mediterranean diet is so important for our health?

The answer is simple: "Its foods contain healthy elements"

A good example are Polyphenols. Apples and Red wines are a great source of Polyphenols.

According to wikipedia, Polyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol group per molecule.

These chemicals can be found in high levels in the fruit skins.

They have an anti-oxidant action that reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Everybody of us know that eating fresh fruit helps preventing cancer and other diseases.

Do you remember the ancient said:"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"?

Now we know it's true. A new study conduced by the Italian cancer league (www.legatumori.it) confirms it.

Researchers have demonstrated that eating Apples helps in reducing the cancer cells of:

* 40-60% (Eat the skin)
* 30-40% (Eat only the pulp)

Other recent researches have shown that eating apples helps to:

* Prevent the growth of prostate cancer cells (Thanks to the presence of the flavonoid Quercetin, an anti-oxidant)
* Inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells (thanks to the skin of apples)
* Reduce the risk of lung cancer
* Inhibit the developments of bladder cancer (especially in smokers)

Another great source of polyphenols is Red wine.