New study revel the association between diet and mortality

A study was published in the British Medical Journal.
It suggests that a Mediterranean diet may be beneficial to health and gives longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans.

Researchers from the University of Athens Medical School tracked 74,000 men and women over the age of 60 living in nine European countries. They found that mortality was lower among those who stuck most closely to a diet of cereal, fish, unsaturated fats like olive oil and moderate wine drinking with low consumption of meat, dairy products and saturated fats.

The association between diet and mortality was closest in Greece and Spain, the study found, possibly because residents of those countries adhere most closely to the Mediterranean style. The researchers found that a 60-year-old man who keeps to pasta, fish and olive oil would live an average of a year longer.

The researchers collected information on areas including diet, lifestyle, medical history, smoking and physical activity.

A higher dietary score was associated with a lower overall death rate. A two point increase corresponded to an 8% reduction in mortality, while a three or four point increase was associated with a reduction of total mortality by 11% or 14% respectively.

Adherence to a Mediterranean type diet, which relies on plant foods and unsaturated fats, is associated with a significantly longer life expectancy, and may be particularly appropriate for elderly people, who represent a rapidly increasing group in Europe, they conclude.

The Mediterranean diet is characterised by a high intake of vegetables, legumes, fruits, and cereals; a moderate to high intake of fish; a low intake of saturated fats, but high intake of unsaturated fats, particularly olive oil; a low intake of dairy products and meat; and a modest intake of alcohol, mostly as wine.

In northern countries, where olive oil is less commonly found, the team used a different measure of fat consumption, putting a high value on polyunsatured fats. They call the result the modified Mediterranean diet.

In this country those in the top third of diet scores had a 20 per cent lower death rate than those in the bottom third. The team concludes: “The modified Mediterranean diet is beneficial to health across populations�?.

Rebecca Foster, a nutrition scientist at the British Nutrition Foundation, said diets in the UK were not as healthy as those followed by many of their European counterparts.
“It is vital that large and in-depth dietary studies such as these are carried out to further our understanding of the way different diets affect our health�? she said.

The researchers said the link was strongest in Greece and Spain, probably because people in these countries followed a genuinely Mediterranean diet.
They concluded: “A dietary pattern that resembles that of the Mediterranean is associated with a lower overall death rate.