"The team also explored why and how a Mediterranean diet might mitigate risk of heart disease and stroke by examining a panel of 40 biomarkers, representing new

"The team also explored why and how a Mediterranean diet might mitigate risk of heart disease and stroke by examining a panel of 40 biomarkers, representing new and established biological contributors to heart disease. ... The team saw changes in signals of * inflammation (accounting for 29 percent of the cardiovascular disease risk reduction) * glucose metabolism and insulin resistance (27.9 percent), * and body max index (27.3 percent). The team also found connections to blood pressure, various forms of cholesterol, branch-chain amino acids and other biomarkers, but found that these accounted for less of the association between Mediterranean diet and risk reduction." The suggestion from the data being that inflammation and insulin resistance might be more important factors than the usual cholesterol panel that people tend to fixate on.