New study aims to encourage healthier diet among Asian women

300 women here will take part in effort to assess benefits of tailored Mediterranean diet

- Ariel Yu

While the Mediterranean diet is widely recognised as healthy by global health organisations, an upcoming study will look into which parts of the diet are beneficial to women in Singapore.

The new study aims to encourage Asian women to adopt healthier diet choices through the consumption of a tailored Mediterranean diet, and will be conducted with 300 Asian women of reproductive age living in Singapore.

A Mediterranean diet emphasises whole grains over refined carbohydrates and fish over red meat and processed meat, as well as plant-based proteins like legumes and plant-based fats such as walnuts and almonds.

Research has shown that it is effective in preventing cardiovascular diseases and reducing risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The study is one of the ongoing collaborative efforts led by the Global Centre for Asian Women's Health at the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (GloWNUS), in partnership with Universite Paris Cite's (UPCite) Faculty of Health, on research and education programmes on women's health concerns across their lifespan, with a focus on Asians.

When designing the new study, the research team drew insights from earlier studies by GloWNUS.