After following more than 22,000 adults in Greece for almost four years, Dr.
Dimitrios Trichopoulos and his colleagues found that people who closely followed
the Mediterranean-type diet were less likely to die of any cause, including the
major killers heart disease and cancer.
Previous studies have shown that people living in Mediterranean regions tend
to live longer than North Americans and people from Northern Europe, and this
latest research adds further evidence to the theory that Mediterranean peoples
could be eating their way toward long life.
The current study, appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine, "goes a long way in documenting that, in the end,
diet really matters," said Trichopoulos, who holds positions at Harvard
University in Boston and the University of Athens in Greece.
Although some investigators are skeptical of the benefits of the
Mediterranean-type diet, "when you face the data, you just have to believe it,"
Trichopoulos told Reuters Health.
He said that the current study was conducted in people who were apparently
healthy, but previous research has shown that following a Mediterranean-type
diet can also help people with illnesses, like heart disease.
"It seems to be a diet good for the healthy as well as the sick,"
Trichopoulos said.
The traditional Mediterranean diet contains many components, including a high
intake of fruits and vegetables, nuts and cereals, and olive oil. Followers of
the diet often have wine with their meals, regularly down fish and dairy
products -- largely in the form of cheese and yogurt -- and only rarely eat meat
and poultry.
During the study, Trichopoulos and his team surveyed 22,043 adults in Greece
about their eating habits, noting how closely each person followed the
traditional Mediterranean diet. The researchers then followed participants for
44 months, noting who died, and of what cause.
After almost four years, the researchers recorded 275 deaths. And the more
closely a person followed the Mediterranean diet at the outset of the study, the
less likely he was to die of any cause.
In addition, people who followed the Mediterranean diet more closely than
others were also 33 percent less likely to die from heart disease, and 24
percent less likely to die from cancer.
Interestingly, after breaking down the individual components of the
Mediterranean diet, Trichopoulos and his colleagues discovered that no single
component appeared to reduce the risk of death. This finding suggests that each
component has only a small effect, visible only when all are combined, or that
the effects of the different components interact, causing benefits only when
combined, the authors write.
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Frank B. Hu of Harvard University and
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston writes that in many countries near the
Mediterranean, including Greece, dietary habits are changing, with more people
embracing Western diets filled with saturated fat and refined carbohydrates.
As evidence of this shift, Hu notes that the prevalence of obesity in Greece
has risen "dramatically" in recent years.
Trichopoulos said that this trend is indeed occurring, but noted that older
generations and people living in rural areas in Greece continue to follow the
Mediterranean style of eating. Furthermore, he said, some young, educated people
are rediscovering the benefits of the diet, and changing their eating habits
accordingly.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348:2595-2596,2599-2608.
