Sharing nutrition research also means explaining its limitations.
PREDIMED studied 7,447 adults in Spain who had high cardiovascular risk but no cardiovascular disease at enrolment.
After a median follow-up of 4.8 years, the reanalysis published in 2018 reported an approximately 30% relative reduction in the combined risk of myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular death in the Mediterranean diet groups supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts, compared with the group receiving advice to reduce dietary fat.
How should we interpret this? The reduction is relative, not 30 percentage points. Participants received nutritional support and supplied foods. Departures from the randomisation protocol required this reanalysis. The findings do not automatically generalise to every population.
For Morocco, this raises a question: how can prevention initiatives reflect our eating habits, resources and social realities?
Science supports prevention when it is explained precisely.