How Can the Mediterranean Diet Benefit Your Liver Health?

What is the Mediterranean diet?

The Mediterranean diet is built on traditional foods that people used to eat in countries like Italy and Greece around 60 years ago. Researchers have noted that these people were extremely healthy compared to Americans and also had a low risk of many diseases.

This diet consists of eating mainly plant-based foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and nuts. The diet also focuses on replacing fats such as butter with healthy fats like olive oil and canola oil. To season foods while eating the Mediterranean diet you would replace salt as seasoning with herbs and spices. There is also a limit to how much red meat is eaten, usually limiting it to only a few times a month.

How can the Mediterranean diet benefit your liver?

When the liver is damaged it releases alanine transaminase into the bloodstream creating high ALT levels. A study by the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Harokopio University, Greece looked at the possible impact of three different diets on liver enzymes of 259 obese candidates. The 6 and 12-month checks on the patients showed that the ALT levels decreased significantly in those eating the Mediterranean diet. This was a substantial difference compared with those eating the other two dietary profiles. This trial suggests that the Mediterranean diet could have a positive effect on ALT levels, and that the decreased ALT levels were not caused by weight loss in the candidates.

Researchers at the St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Australia found that this diet reduces the fat accumulated in the liver. The Mediterranean diet also improves insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Increasing insulin sensitivity is important as it improves the body's ability to store the carbs you eat as muscle glycogen instead of as fat.

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What foods does the Mediterranean diet include?

What to eat: Vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, potatoes, whole grains, bread, herbs, spices, fish, seafood and extra virgin olive oil.

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Eat in moderation: Poultry, eggs, cheese, and yogurt.

Limit: Red meat.

What not to eat: Refined sugars, processed meats, refined grains, refined oils and trans fats and other highly processed foods.

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Of course, the Mediterranean diet differs depending on the country, so these are basic food groups that make up this healthy way of eating. Implementing this diet will help give you the energy needed to incorporate other healthy lifestyle habits, such as partaking in regular physical activity making time for more family dinners.

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