Eating the Mediterranean way could
help you live longer, according to the first study to look
at how the dietary pattern relates to mortality in a US
population.
Men whose diets were closest to the
Mediterranean ideal were 21 percent less likely to die over
five years than men whose diets were least
Mediterranean-like. Similar results were seen in women.
"These results provide strong
evidence for a beneficial effect of higher conformity with
the Mediterranean dietary pattern on risk of death from all
causes, including deaths due to cardiovascular disease and
cancer, in a US population," Dr. Panagiota N. Mitrou of
the University of Cambridge in the UK and colleagues
conclude.
A number of studies have linked the
Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fish, fruits and
vegetables and nuts and low in dairy foods and red meat, to
health benefits, the researchers note in the Archives of
Internal Medicine.
They looked at diet and mortality
in 380,296 men and women, 50 to 71 years old, who were
participating in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet
and Health Study.
For both men and women, the
researchers found, the risk of death from any cause over the
five-year follow-up period was lower for those with the most
Mediterranean-like diets. Deaths from cancer or
cardiovascular disease were also significantly lower in this
group.
The benefit was especially strong
in smokers who were not overweight, who nearly halved their
risk of death if they closely followed the Mediterranean
diet pattern. Smokers may have had the most to gain from the
antioxidant and blood fat-lowering effects of
Mediterranean-style eating, Mitrou and colleagues suggest.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal
Medicine, December 10/24, 2007.
