 There's a significant body of research suggesting the Mediterranean diet is associated with longevity. Now scientists behind a new study reveal which ingredients of the Mediterranean diet work best at promoting weight loss. I'm crossing my fingers it's feta cheese and red wine. Welcome to Lifespan News, I'm your host, Emmett Short. Today we're talking about the Mediterranean diet study. It's linked down below and it's focused on the role of polyphenols, a class of phytochemicals known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Polyphenols are abundant in berries, nuts, vegetables, tea, coffee and many other plant products. So 300 participants in a randomized controlled trial were divided into three groups. The control group ate a diet based on dietaryguidelines.gov which I'm sure is based on nothing but hard science and definitely not influenced by food industry lobbyists. The two study groups were put on Mediterranean diets, one on a generic version and one on a more plant-oriented version that had the same amount of calories but almost double the daily intake of polyphenols. So 800 milligrams versus 440 milligrams in the generic version. Patients in all groups were also put on an identical physical activity regimen, I'm guessing not that. The participants mean age was 51 and that doesn't mean that's the age they started getting short tempered. But I'm 46 and I can feel it coming. No, their average age was 51, average body mass index was 31, 36 percent were pre-diabetic and another 11 percent were diabetic. So about half the participants could stand to lose some pounds and that was the point of the trial but weight loss was measured in a way more sophisticated way than just putting people on a scale. They used MRI to precisely measure the abdominal adipose tissue following the 18-month trial period the MRI revealed negligible weight loss in the control group despite patients being physically active, not that. The two study groups on the other hand showed substantial weight loss with the plant-oriented group losing the most weight. Importantly the plant-oriented diet was shown to be much more effective at reducing the amount of visceral fat which is not fat that gives you a strong emotional reaction. Visceral fat is what accumulates around your organs. I don't know about you but I have a way more visceral reaction when I gain a little subcutaneous fat which is the fat you can pinch but I wasn't put in charge of naming so and that's probably a good thing. I probably would have named it inside fat and outside fat and nobody wants that in a textbook. The researchers went to great lengths to establish the effects of particular dietary components according to their calculations higher consumption of green tea, walnuts and dietary fiber as well as reduced meat consumption were all significantly associated with greater visceral fat loss when adjusted for age and sex. So the results of this randomized controlled trial confirm the importance of polyphenol consumption and hint at more plant-based variants of the Mediterranean diet being more effective for weight loss. It's important to note that being thin is not necessarily directly related to longevity. It's merely associated with a lower risk of diseases that you know eventually kill you. So will these results impact your view of the Mediterranean diet? Will you change your diet? Let us know in the comments and when there's more to share we'll have it for you here so definitely subscribe so you don't miss out. I'm Emmett Short. We'll see you next time on Lifespan News.