A MED-STYLE DIET IS KEY TO LIVING LONGER
Tuesday December 11,2007
By Victoria Fletcher Health Editor
GOING on a Mediterranean diet may be the best way to achieve a long and healthy life.
People who fill their plate with fruit and vegetables, nuts, olive oil, grains and legumes reduced their risk of dying from heart problems and cancer by up to 22 per cent.
The more they substitute unhealthy foods such as processed meats for nutritious alternatives like fish, the lower their risk of death.
The researchers believe the report proves the value of ditching burgers and fries in favour of the fresh foods of the type eaten in the Mediterranean.
The US study monitored the health of more than 380,000 men and women aged between 50 and 71 who were in good health.
They were questioned about their diet, including the amount of alcohol they drank and their intake of dairy products.
The researchers gave every volunteer a score based on their diet sheet. Anyone who ate more “healthy” foods than the national average were awarded an extra point for each portion consumed.
The research by the National Cancer Institute in Maryland found that once influences such as smoking and social class were excluded, men with the healthiest diet reduced their risk of dying from cancer by 17 per cent and of cardiovascular disease by 22 per cent. For women, the results were less dramatic. Those who ate the healthiest diet reduced their risk of dying of cancer by 18 per cent and of heart disease by 19 per cent.
Dr Panagiota Mitrou, who led the study, said: “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 cancer and cardiovascular disease.”
The study, published in the American journal Archives of Internal Medicine, found that most people who eat a Mediterranean-style diet are also more educated, do more exercise and do not smoke. Last night, British experts said that it was hard to know how much these other factors might have affected the results.
Tim Key, the deputy director of the Cancer Epidemiology Unit said: “This does tell us that people with a certain lifestyle including eating a Mediterranean diet have lower mortality. But it does not tell us that if you switch from an unhealthy diet to eating these foods, it will reduce your risk. That is the important question.”
The study is the latest of many to suggest a link between the Mediterranean diet and good health.
Earlier this year another American study showed that a diet rich in Mediterranean foods can halve the risk of developing serious lung disease.
Another study published in the journal Thorax in April suggested that children raised on Mediterranean foods were less likely to develop asthma and allergies.
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