- Following a Mediterranean diet can improve your health – and that of your family, a study suggests.
- The researchers found that family members of dieters ate healthier and lost weight without actively trying.
- This suggests that sharing meals with people you love can be a useful strategy for healthier eating.
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Experiencing the popular and healthy
mediterranean diet
could benefit not just you, but everyone you live with, suggests new research.
Family members of people who followed a Mediterranean diet lost weight and improved their eating habits, even without taking a specific diet program, according to a study published on March 3 in the International Journal of Obesity.
The Mediterranean diet, based on the traditional dietary patterns of countries like Spain, Italy and Greece, is one of the most researched and praised diets for healthy eating. It has been linked to benefits for weight loss, hormonal regulation (including insulin, to help control or prevent diabetes), healthy digestion and better physical and mental health with age.
Researchers at Hospital del Mar and other medical research institutes in Spain analyzed 114 family members of participants in a study on obesity and the Mediterranean diet. Study participants were instructed to follow a calorie-restricted Mediterranean diet with regular individual training and group support sessions.
Their family members – including partners, children, parents and siblings – have never received specific dietary guidelines or information about weight loss.
At the end of the two years, however, family members adjacent to the diet also began eating Mediterranean-style meals and lost weight.
Healthy eating can be contagious (in a good way)
The researchers theorize that the “halo effect” of healthy eating spreads throughout the family when people cook and eat together.
The study supports this concept, finding that family members are more likely to experience the benefits if they share more than one meal a day with their dieting relatives.
The halo effect was even stronger when the person following the Mediterranean diet also made the house food, suggesting that he prepared healthier meals for the whole family.
And 20% of dieters said their spouses even joined them in their regular counseling sessions.
“The effect was contagious, in this context it was, fortunately, a beneficial ‘contagion’, resulting in weight loss and improved eating habits,” said Dr. Albert Goday, principal investigator of the project and researcher at Hospital Del Mar in a statement press release.
However, not all healthy habits have indirect effects.
Dieters were also encouraged to engage in regular physical activity as part of their weight loss plan. The researchers found that this did not translate into family members exercising more, suggesting that fitness may not be as contagious as healthy eating.