Nature Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical journals worldwide, has published its “Year in Review” article featuring “11 clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2023”, and the PREDIMED-Plus study on the Mediterranean diet, which among other foods includes nuts. Prof. Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Chairman of the INC World Forum for Nutrition Research and Dissemination, was interviewed among other leading scientists who were asked to name their top clinical trials for 2023. The answers spanned a wide range of fields, from cancer screening to new drugs for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
Prof. Salas-Salvadó, a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Rovira i Virgili University in Spain, cited the PREDIMED-Plus clinical trial, for which he serves as principal coordinator and chair of the steering committee. With 6,874 participants recruited in 23 centers and hospitals, PREDIMED-Plus is a milestone of nutritional research. This trial aims to evaluate the long-term effect of an intensive weight-loss intervention based on an energy-restricted Mediterranean diet, physical activity and behavioral support.
“No study has ever demonstrated that weight loss and maintenance using an energy-reduced healthy diet and physical activity lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease in people who are overweight or who have obesity,” Prof. Salas-Salvadó told Nature Medicine. “We hypothesize that an intensive lifestyle-intervention program aimed at weight loss and based on the traditional Mediterranean diet is a sustainable long-term approach for achieving weight loss in overweight and obese adults, and that the lifestyle changes achieved will have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.”
Arnold, C., Webster, P. 11 clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2023. Nature Medicine 28, 2444–2448 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02132-3
PREDIMED-Plus Clinical Trial: https://www.predimedplus.com/en/