The green Mediterranean diet builds on the traditional Mediterranean diet that focuses on fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based foods. The diet also includes unique additions, apart from what we already know being part of the Mediterranean diet. In the green Mediterranean diet, things like green tea, Mankai duckweed, and walnuts, all of this offers enhanced heart health benefits as compared to the Mediterranean of standard version.

This diet was created in 2020, this diet also encouraged a more sustainable and health-focused way of eating.

How does it work - the Green Diet?

The researchers for the first time introduced the green Mediterranean diet in 2020 which enhances cardiometabolic benefits of the traditional Mediterranean approach. It emphasizes plant-based foods and limits animal products to promote heart health and reduce inflammation. This diet can also help with weight management, lower the risk of chronic conditions like diabetes, and support environmental sustainability.

What one needs to follow?

Similar to the traditional version, the Green Mediterranean diet also follows the same dietary guidelines:

Women: 1,200–1,400 calories per day

Men: 1,500–1,800 calories per day

Physical activity is also encouraged to maximize benefits. While any plant-focused Mediterranean diet could be considered "green," the official version includes specific foods:

• Green tea: 3–4 cups per day
• Mankai duckweed: 100 grams, providing protein and antioxidants
• Walnuts: 28 grams daily

What foods can you include?

In the green diet, the importance is to on more plant-based foods, which includes:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Nuts and legumes
• Olive oil, herbs, and spices
• Whole grains

However while this diet too retains animal-based proteins from the traditional Mediterranean diet, the foods like meat, fish or eggs are limited, More attention is given towards the alternatives like tofu, beans, nuts and quinoa.

What foods should you avoid?

The diet minimizes or eliminates:

• Butter and high-fat dairy products
• Foods high in added sugars
• Processed and red meats

How can you follow a meal plan on this diet?

Start with half a cup of oatmeal with fresh fruit and cinnamon and a cup of green tea as your breakfast.

Moving on to lunch, get a smooth of Mankai duckweed, one cup of fruits or vegetables, and unsweetened plant-based milk.

In between, you can also munch on a handful of walnuts, and another cup of green tea.

Lastly, end your day with grilled salmon with cooked spinach, brown rice and a cup of green tea for your dinner.

What are the benefits?

Heart Health

Studies show that following the green Mediterranean diet for six months can lower blood pressure and "bad" LDL cholesterol—two key risk factors for heart disease.

Visceral Fat Reduction

Visceral fat, which accumulates around the abdomen, is linked to various health issues. Research found that the green Mediterranean diet led to double the visceral fat loss compared to the standard version over 18 months.

Environmental Benefits

Reducing meat consumption can significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions. Switching to a green Mediterranean diet can be a meaningful step toward protecting the planet.

If you are considering switching from dairy to plant-based alternatives such as oat and almond milk, a new study warns that the move could increase the risk of nutrient deficiencies, particularly among women and children.

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Published in The Lancet Planetary Health, the study found that replacing dairy products with unfortified plant-based alternatives could reduce the intake of essential vitamins and minerals.

“With the growing need to address environmental sustainability, many dietary recommendations are focused on plant-based diets and the reduced intake of animal products,” said Dr Katie Nicol, co-author of the study and Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, UK.

Dr Nicol explained that plant-based alternatives may not provide the same micronutrients as dairy products, putting vulnerable groups such as young children and adolescent females at greater risk of deficiencies that could affect their overall health.

Which Nutrients Could Be Lost When Replacing Dairy?

Also read: Can Eating Peanuts Daily Boost Brain Health And Lower Alzheimer's Disease Risk?

The study warned that replacing dairy products, even partially, with unfortified plant-based alternatives could reduce the intake of four essential micronutrients:

• iodine
• calcium
• riboflavin
• vitamin B12.

In the study, the researchers examined the impact of replacing milk, yoghurt and cheese with commercially available plant-based alternatives on micronutrient intake.

They analysed data from more than 3,500 individuals aged between 18 months and 100 years from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Using a modelling technique, they assessed how different levels of dairy replacement affected the intake of these four nutrients.

The findings showed that even modest replacements led to marked declines in all four micronutrients, with iodine intake being particularly affected.

Replacing just 20% to 35% of dairy products with plant-based alternatives, under current market fortification levels, increased iodine inadequacy among adolescent females from 54% to 65%. Among women aged 19–49, it rose from 32% to 42%.

With complete replacement, iodine inadequacy increased to 80% among adolescent females and 72% among adolescent males.

Why Is Iodine Particularly Important?

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Iodine is essential for producing thyroid hormones, which regulate metabolism and support healthy growth and brain development.

“People may also be unaware of the importance of iodine, which is needed to make thyroid hormones to regulate our metabolism, support healthy growth and brain development,” said lead author Dr Sarah Bath, Associate Professor at the University of Surrey.

She added that iodine is particularly important during pregnancy, when requirements increase, but adequate stores are also needed before pregnancy.

Dairy products are a major source of iodine, while unfortified plant-based alternatives contain very little of the mineral.

Can Fortification Prevent Nutrient Deficiencies?

The researchers also assessed whether mandatory fortification of plant-based dairy alternatives could help prevent nutrient deficiencies.

They found that fortifying these alternatives with essential micronutrients prevented declines in their intake when dairy products were replaced. However, iodine inadequacy remained high, affecting 59% of adolescent females.

The study also found that iodine-fortified bread could further improve iodine intake, reducing inadequacy among adolescent females to 37%.

The findings suggest that combining mandatory fortification of plant-based dairy alternatives with iodine-fortified bread could be the most effective strategy to reduce iodine inadequacy.

Eating about two servings of unsalted, skin-roasted peanuts daily may help support brain health, and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's Disease, suggests a study.

The study, conducted in older adults, suggests that eating 60 grams of peanuts daily for 16 weeks improved insulin responsiveness in brain regions involved in memory, a function that can weaken with age and is linked to Alzheimer's Disease.

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Food & Function, the study highlights how daily peanut consumption may influence brain insulin signalling. However, it does not establish that peanuts can prevent Alzheimer's disease.

How Daily Peanut Consumption Improved Brain Insulin Response

The study included 31 healthy adults aged 60 to 75. During the peanut consumption phase, participants ate 60 grams (approximately two servings) of peanuts daily for 16 weeks.

Researchers used a randomized, controlled crossover trial, allowing them to compare the effects of eating peanuts with those of avoiding them.

The elderly who consumed peanuts daily showed improved insulin responsiveness in several brain regions in the right hemisphere. These included parts of the lingual gyrus, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and posterior cingulate gyrus, all involved in memory-related processes.

While insulin is best known for regulating blood sugar, it also plays an important role in the brain. It supports nerve cell growth, survival and communication, helping maintain memory and other cognitive abilities.

Also read: Just Four Days Of High-Fat Diet May Increase Inflammation, Study Finds

Reduced brain responsiveness to insulin with age has been linked to cognitive decline.

"The hormone insulin plays an important role in the brain, where it supports memory and other cognitive processes. As people age, the brain may become less responsive to insulin, which has been linked to age-related cognitive decline," said Dr Peter Joris, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Movement Sciences at Maastricht University Medical Center, Netherlands.

"Our study found that daily peanut consumption beneficially affected insulin responsiveness in memory-related brain regions in older adults. These findings suggest that enhanced regional brain insulin responsiveness may contribute to the cognitive benefits of unsalted, skin-roasted peanut intake," he added.

Which Peanut Nutrients May Support Brain Health?

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Researchers supplied participants with premeasured packets of skin-roasted peanuts to ensure consistent consumption.

Participants were instructed to eat their peanuts in the morning or afternoon. They could consume the entire portion at once, divide it into smaller servings throughout the day or include the peanuts in their meals.

Researchers believe several peanut components, rather than a single nutrient, may contribute to the observed effects.

"Multiple nutrients present in peanuts, including unsaturated fats, dietary fibre, vitamins and minerals and bioactive phytochemicals, could potentially contribute to the observed brain benefits," said Joris.

"Peanuts are also a good source of plant-based protein and are especially rich in L-arginine. L-arginine is a key precursor of nitric oxide (NO), which has been reported to facilitate learning and memory performance," he added.

Peanut and Improvements in Blood Flow and Verbal Memory

A previous study published in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Nutrition 2025, found that consuming peanuts for 16 weeks increased overall cerebral blood flow (CBF) by 3.6% and improved verbal memory performance by 5.8%.

Cerebral blood flow measures the amount of blood circulating through the brain, delivering oxygen and nutrients that brain cells need to function. It is also an indicator of brain blood vessel health.

Long-term diet and obesity are known to affect inflammation. A new study from the University of California, San Francisco suggests that even a few days of eating differently can change how strongly the immune system reacts, at least in mice.

What the researchers did

The study was published in Nature on October 28. It was led by Sagar Bapat, a professor of pathology at UCSF and the paper’s corresponding author. Zewen “Owen” Jiang, who did the work as a graduate student at UCSF, was co-first author, according to UCSF.

The team raised mice on either low-fat or high-fat food pellets. They then applied imiquimod, a cream that triggers skin inflammation, to one ear of each mouse. Mice raised on high-fat food and made obese had severe reactions, while mice on low-fat food had mild ones.

Is it the weight or the diet?

Obesity has long been tied to more severe inflammation, but it wasn’t clear why. “We wanted to know whether it was the extra weight or simply the bad diet that was driving the stronger response,” Jiang said.

To find out, the researchers switched normal-weight mice from low-fat to high-fat food for just four days, then applied the cream three days later. These lean mice developed severe ear inflammation, just like the obese mice. In the other direction, obese mice moved to normal food for four days had much milder inflammation.

The paper’s conclusion is that the dietary state around the time inflammation starts, rather than obesity itself, determines how severe the disease gets.

The skin remembered

Weeks later, the normal-weight mice were back on low-fat food and their inflammation had cleared. The researchers applied the cream again to the same ear. The reaction was far stronger than expected.

The researchers found that high-fat food drew rapid-response immune cells into the skin, which amplified the reaction. As the inflammation faded, memory T cells stayed behind in the ear. Together, these changes left the tissue primed for the next flare-up, UCSF reported. The paper also found that the response depends on CD4+ T cells, and that a protein complex called NLRP3 drives the diet-amplified disease.

The team saw a similar heightened response in the lungs after a few days on a high-fat diet.

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What the scientists said

“Long-term dietary habits absolutely matter for health, but our study unearthed a much more real-time influence of diet,” Bapat said. “Breakfast, lunch, dinner, they all can have a tremendous and rapid impact on the immune system.”

Jiang added a note of caution. “The diet of a laboratory mouse doesn’t map neatly onto what we eat, but it’s striking how quickly the immune system responds to what’s happening in the body right now,” he said. “Diet, exercise, sleep, they could all shape immune health in ways we don’t yet appreciate.”

What this does and doesn’t mean

This was a study in mice, and the high-fat pellets used in the lab are not the same as human meals. The findings don’t show that a single unhealthy meal will worsen a person’s skin or lung conditions. They do suggest that what is eaten around the time inflammation begins may matter more than researchers had assumed, and that the immune system may hold a memory of it.