The organic Mediterranean diet increases antioxidant levels, decreases general inflammation in the body and reduces cardiovascular risk. The evidence emerges from a study on healthy volunteers conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Tor Vergata, in Rome.
The study on the organic Mediterranean diet
Researchers measured the benefits of the organic Mediterranean diet on 15 healthy volunteers, who were subjected to a specific eating plan for a month.
The research is based on the collection of data on the health of participants, the nutritional values of foods and their environmental footprint. Particular attention is paid to the composition of the intestinal microbiota, a fundamental system for health, threatened by ultra-processed foods. (1,2,3)
Focus on the intestinal microbiota
Just one month of the Mediterranean organic diet has determined a marked improvement in the composition of the intestinal microbiota:
– the families of antioxidant bacteria (the ‘good bacteria’ for health) increased up to 25%, after the organic diet, compared to the initial state
– associations of pro-oxidant bacteria were reduced by up to 50% in the sample of participants.
Researchers conclusion is that following an organic Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, thanks to an overall immunomodulatory and detoxifying effect.
Atherogenicity index halved
Very positive results emerge in the quality of fats consumed in the organic Mediterranean diet, with a significant decrease in the risk of cardiovascular diseases in terms of:
– atherogenicity index almost halved (from 0,29 to 0,16)
– thrombogenicity index, more than halved (from 0,42 to 0,20).
Excellent is also the effect of the diet on the antioxidant capacity of the body, essential to combat cellular aging, which has almost quadrupled, going from 5.870 to 20.573 ORAC units, the unit of measurement of the capacity to absorb free radicals. (4)
Which Mediterranean diet?
A surprising fact is the poor knowledge of the Mediterranean diet, based on the consumption of vegetables, cereals, legumes, fresh and dried fruit and few animal proteins, possibly fish.
Participants in the study were in fact convinced that they were following the Mediterranean diet even before enrolling in the research, and yet the so-called Mediterranean Adequacy Index went from 1,4 (‘not acceptable’ level) in the preliminary phase to over 15 (‘excellent’ level) at the end of the study.
Notice well that even just an increase of 2.7 units in the Mediterranean adequacy index, over a 20-year period, is associated with a 26% decrease in mortality from cardiovascular diseases.
The role of the exposome
‘The heart of the study concerned the analysis of the so-called exposome, or the set of internal and external factors that influence our state of health. Among these are eating habits, lifestyle and exposure to pollutants.
A systematic review he explored the first of these factors, that is, how much what we eat affects our state of health.
The results They showed that a diet consisting exclusively of organic foods reduces exposure to harmful chemicals, such as pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, while strengthening the body’s natural barriers against inflammation and cellular damage.’, comments Laura Di Renzo, director of the School of Food Sciences at the University of Tor Vergata. (5)
The environmental footprint of diet
The benefits of an organic diet they obviously extend to the environment. The Tor Vergata study confirms that eating organic is a sustainable choice.
The environmental impact of the organic diet of the study participants, for just one month, highlights significant variations compared to the previous diet:
– the water footprint it has dropped from 64.475 litres to 44.705 litres per person, with a saving of around 20.000 litres which is equivalent to the average water used to take more than 250 showers
– the carbon footprint has been reduced from 40,25 to 38,13 kg of CO2 equivalent. A saving equal to the emissions produced by the average monthly operation of an electric oven.
Slimming effect
A ‘side effect’ of the Mediterranean organic diet is weight loss. This is what happened to Tatiana and Dario, two of the 15 volunteers. They became the protagonists of the communication campaign ‘Il bio dentro di noi’ – organized by FederBio, AssoBio and Consorzio Il Biologico – to spread the results of the study by the University of Tor Vergata. (6)
Tatiana and Dario in fact, they showed the benefits common to the entire group of volunteers: the ‘good’ bacteria (among the firmicutes) have increased in their intestinal microbiota, while bacteria (among the Bacteroites) that promote the inflammatory state decreased between 5 and 50%. With the additional, unexpected benefit of both losing about a kilo of weight.
Towards the second stage of the study
A systematic review of the University of Tor Vergata continues. After a month of an organic Mediterranean diet (with foods offered by Naturasì) the volunteers are free to eat as they please for thirty days. Then they undergo a further thirty days of a ‘conventional’ (i.e. non-organic) Mediterranean diet.
In early 2025 further data should emerge, probably focused on the effects of the different composition of organic foods. Which, compared to ‘conventional’ ones, contain:
– fewer residues of chemical substances, which accumulate in the human body as seen in the case of glyphosate, (7) and
– higher amounts of bioactive compounds and beneficial nutrients, as shown by a recent scientific review. (8)
The MOOD project
The research was conducted by the University of Rome Tor Vergata – Section of Clinical Nutrition and Nutrigenomics of the Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, under the guidance of Professor Laura Di Renzo.
A systematic review, called IMOD (Italian Mediterranean Organic Diet) is part of the MOOD project (Design model of the network of food safety systems, nutritional quality and nutrigenomics of the Mediterranean Diet for the defense of health in Italy).
The MOOD project, by the University of Tor Vergata, is funded by the Ministry of Health and the Fund for Development and Cohesion (FSC).
Marta Strinati
Footnotes
(1) Paola Palestini, Dario Dongo. Microbiome and intestine, the second brain. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(2) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Organic food and the immune system, scientific evidence. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(3) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Correlations between diet, gut microbiome and health. Scientific study on 1098 individuals. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) level can also be measured in individual foods. See the previous article by Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. The ORAC level, an index measuring the antioxidant power of foods. FT (Food Times). December 12, 2020
(5) Di Renzo, L.; Gualtieri, P.; Frank, G.; Cianci, R.; Caldarelli, M.; Leggeri, G.; Raffaelli, G.; Pizzocaro, E.; Cirillo, M.; De Lorenzo, A. Exploring the Exposome Spectrum: Unveiling Endogenous and Exogenous Factors in Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases. Diseases 2024, 12, 176. https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases12080176
(6) The bio inside us https://www.ilbiodentrodinoi.it/i-risultati/
(7) Marta Strinati. Glyphosate in the urine of 99,8% of French people. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(8) Marta Strinati. The health benefits of organic diet, scientific review. Food Times. 13.11.24
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
