Rich in olive oil, fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and fish, the Mediterranean diet has become a household term over the past few years.

Plenty of research has shown that people who follow a Mediterranean diet have lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and tend to live longer.

But until now, everyone's figured the Mediterranean diet is all about prevention. Once you have heart disease or cancer, people just assumed this diet couldn't do much for you.

Well, researchers in Greece have come up with some very good news.

A team looked at 1,000 patients who had suffered heart attacks or severe chest pain and rated their diets based on how closely they matched the Mediterranean ideal.

They found that patients with the diets closest to Mediterranean had a 31% lower risk of suffering another heart attack or experiencing chest pain during the first month after discharge from the hospital. They were half as likely as those with diets least in line with the Mediterranean style to have another heart-related event in a year, and were almost 40% less likely to experience repeat problems within two years.

In fact, with every additional point on the diet score, a person's risk fell by 12%.

The power rests in the vegetables and nuts that feature so prominently in the Mediterranean diet. People who ate vegetables and nuts daily or weekly had a 20% lower risk of repeat heart problems compared to those who ate veggies and nuts monthly (or even less often).

The results of the study appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The bottom line is that it's NEVER too late to reap the benefits of a healthy diet.

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