935 women and 817 controls participating in the MASTOS case-control study in Cyprus answered a 32-item Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess their adherence to a Mediterranean Diet. Although overall Med Diet adherence did not prove to be correlated with breast cancer risk in this study, researchers found that a diet high in fish, vegetables, legumes and olive oil may reduce the risk of breast cancer.
BMC Cancer. 2012 March 23; 12:113. [Demetriou et al.]

At the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke, researchers performed a cross-sectional study on 2,198 men and women in the larger EPIC study, searching for biological predictors of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. They found that higher consumption of whole grain bread was significantly associated with lower levels of several biomarkers of obesity, inflammation and glucose metabolism, while higher consumption of red meat was associated with higher levels of GGT (gamma-glutamyl transferase, which can be indicative of congestive heart failure) and hs-CRP (a measure of inflammation also associated with heart disease).

European Journal of Nutrition, 2012 March 18. [Epub ahead of print] (Montonen et al)

While many studies assessing the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet are carried out with older adults, the SUN project in Spain studies recent university graduates largely in their middle- or late-thirties. After four years of follow-up, researchers at the University of Las Palmas found that a higher adherence to the Mediterranean Diet was significantly associated with better physical health (vitality, bodily pain, general health) and with most measures of mental health (social and emotional functioning).
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2012 March; 66(3):360-8. [Henríquez Sánchez et al.]

Researchers from Central Washington University and California Polytechnic State University compared the iron intakes and serum iron levels of 19 vegetarian college women with 20 non-vegetarian college women. They found that 66% of vegetarians and 65% of non-vegetarians failed to meet the recommended daily allowance of iron (14-18mg). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in serum iron levels between the two groups. In fact, both vegetarians and non-vegetarians had high rates of iron deficiency. These results suggest that while female college students have a high risk of iron deficiency, a vegetarian diet alone does not increase this risk.
Health. 2012 Mar;4(3):113-119. (Hawk et al.)
 

Chinese researchers seeking to evaluate the effect of green tea in combination with inulin for potential impact on body weight and fat mass asked 30 obese and overweight adults to drink either regular tea or catechin-rich green tea with inulin, for six weeks.  Researchers concluded that continuous intake of green tea and inulin may support weight management, and that the positive effects continued were sustained two weeks after ending consumption.
British Journal of Nutrition.  2012 Mar; 107:749-754  (Yang et al.)

A team of researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a meta-analysis of four studies on rice intake and type 2 diabetes, with a total of 352,384 participants. Asian (Chinese and Japanese) people, who ate white rice three to four times per day as compared to Western populations who ate white rice once or twice a week, had a much higher risk of type 2 diabetes.

British Medical Journal. 2012 March 15; 344:e1454. (Hu et al.)

Traditional Chinese therapeutic foods such as hawthorn and kiwifruit extracts were evaluated for their effect on dyslipidemia in a clinical trial conducted in Australia.  Researchers found evidence which suggests that consuming these extracts for 4 weeks may increase levels of HDL-c “good cholesterol” which could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 508683 (Sun et al.)

Scientists at the University of Palermo in Italy used both a 13-question Med Diet Score and a 136-item Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess the diet quality of more than 9100 subjects. They then studied correlations between the subjects’ adherence to a Mediterranean Diet and their health. They found that increased adherence to a Med Diet was associated with a decreased incidence of both diabetes and cardiovascular events, and a decrease in all-cause mortality.
Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases. 2012 March 6 [Epub ahead of print] [Dominguez et al.]

Switching to whole grains may reduce body fat and aid heart health, according to scientists at the University of Copenhagen. In a twelve-week, randomized clinical trial, they asked 79 overweight or obese postmenopausal women to eat a calorie-restricted diet incorporating either 480 calories of refined grain foods or the same amount of whole grain foods. Those eating the diet with whole grains lost more weight (3.6kg vs 2.7kg) and saw a more significant decrease in body fat (3% reduction vs 2.1%) compared to those eating refined grains. Cholesterol levels increased 5% in the refined group, highlighting the heart benefits of choosing whole grains instead of refined.
Journal of Nutrition, Feb 22, 2012. [Epub ahead of print] (Kristensen et al.)

Researchers in China systematically evaluated rates of cancer mortality in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Singapore, and noted changes that began to occur about 10 years into a “nutrition transition” characterized by increased intake of energy, animal fat, and red meats. Breast, colon, and prostate cancer mortality increased “remarkably,” while esophageal and stomach cancers showed a “precipitous decrease.”
European Journal of Cancer Prevention. 2012 Feb 18; Epub ahead of print (Zhang et al.)

While many studies have shown that moderate consumption of wine may help prevent cardiovascular disease, scientists in Dijon, France set out to see if moderate wine intake after myocardial infarction would be beneficial. Their two-week clinical intervention trial divided patients into two groups: one following a Med-inspired diet with water, and the other following the same diet with 250ml of red wine. Those drinking the red wine showed a decrease in total cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol as well as an increase in antioxidant status and in fluidity of red blood cell membranes.
Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. 2012 February; 56(2):345-51. [Rifler et al.]

Researchers at Benedictine University in Illinois conducted a randomized control trial to determine the effects on mood of consuming a vegetarian diet, compared with an omnivorous diet or a meat-restricted fish diet.  Omnivorous diets are high in arachidonic acid (AA) and research has shown that high intakes of AA can promote changes in the brain that can disturb mood.  Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are fats found in fish which are thought to improve mood by opposing the negative effects of AA. This study randomly selected thirty nine omnivores and assigned them to either a group consuming meat, fish and poultry daily (OMN); a group consuming fish 3-4 times weekly but avoiding meat and poultry (FISH), or a vegetarian group avoiding meat, fish and poultry (VEG).  Mood was tested using the Profile of Mood States questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales.  The study found that the VEG participants, who through the diet reduced their EPA, DHA and AA intakes, had mood scores that improved significantly after two weeks whereas OMN and FISH participants had mood scores that remained unchanged.  In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that restricting meat, fish, and poultry may improve some domains of short-term mood states in modern omnivores.
Nutrition Journal 2012 Feb 14;11:9 (Beezhold et al.)