Between Saturdays
This week: how food patterns outperformed pills, why the Mediterranean diet keeps holding up, how structured eating reversed diabetes, and what happens when doctors literally prescribe produce.
Every week, I spend a little time digging through health studies that show how deeply what we eat shapes how we live. The more I read, the clearer it becomes: nutrition isn’t just “lifestyle,” it’s one of the most powerful medical tools we have, with effects measurable in blood pressure, glucose levels, and long-term survival.
This week’s four studies explore food patterns that changed outcomes once thought possible only with medication, from blood pressure to diabetes remission and how the simple act of eating differently rewired clinical expectations.
Caught My Eye…
Mediterranean Diet & Fewer Heart Events
A landmark randomized trial, PREDIMED (New England Journal of Medicine, 2018, republished after methodological corrections), followed people at high cardiovascular risk assigned to one of three diets: a Mediterranean diet enriched with extra-virgin olive oil, one enriched with nuts, or a reduced-fat control diet.
Those on the Mediterranean diets experienced significantly fewer major cardiovascular events; heart attacks, strokes, and cardiovascular deaths despite no calorie restriction. Even after reanalysis, the results stood firm: dietary pattern, not just nutrients, drives heart protection.
Olive oil’s polyphenols and the balance of fats, fiber, and plant compounds appeared to act synergistically to reduce inflammation and improve lipid metabolism. The study cemented food quality and not avoidance as the cornerstone of prevention.
DASH Eating Pattern & Lower Blood Pressure
Before there were antihypertensives for everyone, there was DASH.
In a trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, adults assigned to a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy, with reduced saturated fat, saw average blood pressure drops of 5.5/3.0 mm Hg within weeks and greater improvements among those already hypertensive.
What’s striking is how quickly it worked. The study demonstrated that food composition alone, not weight loss or drugs, could shift blood pressure within a month. The DASH pattern remains one of the few dietary models consistently validated across decades, reinforcing how micronutrients and mineral balance especially potassium, magnesium, and calcium reshapes vascular tone.
Diet-Led Weight Loss & Diabetes Remission (DiRECT Trial)
A 2017 Lancet trial, later extended in 2024, reframed one of modern medicine’s biggest assumptions: that type 2 diabetes is irreversible.
Through a primary-care program using a structured low-calorie diet (≈850 kcal/day), participants achieved diabetes remission in nearly half of cases after one year, and many maintained it long-term with continued support.
The findings positioned diet as a first-line therapeutic, not just adjunct care. Fat loss from the liver and pancreas restored insulin sensitivity and beta-cell function, biological repair through nutritional precision. The trial shifted clinical vocabulary: remission was no longer rare; it was achievable with coaching, structure, and consistency.
“Produce Prescriptions” & Cardiometabolic Health
What if doctors prescribed apples instead of statins?
A 2023 study in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes examined produce prescription programs, where clinicians provided patients with vouchers or subsidies for fruits and vegetables. Over six months, participants increased produce intake and showed improvements in HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, BMI, and food security.
Beyond education, this approach built access into healthcare itself turning nutrition from advice into an intervention. For many participants, it wasn’t about knowledge but affordability; the study demonstrated how small systemic shifts in support could ripple into measurable metabolic gains.
A CLINICAL TRIAL OF THE EFFECTS OF DIETARY PATTERNS ON BLOOD PRESSURE
Primary care-led weight management for remission of type 2 diabetes (DiRECT)
Impact of Produce Prescriptions on Diet, Food Security, and Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes