Mediterranean diet cuts death rate, researchers find

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <b> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="4">Mediterranean diet cuts death rate, researchers find</font></b> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="1">Posted Sept. 21 2004<br> Courtesy The Journal of the American Medical Association<br> and World Science Staff</font> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF"><b>People</b></font><font face="Arial" size="2"><b> 70 to 90 years old who follow a Mediterranean-type diet and healthy lifestyle habits appear to have less than half the death rate than those who did not, researchers have found.</b></font> </p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>Kim Knoops of Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and colleagues studied the effect of a Mediterranean diet (rich in vegetables, fruit and fish, low in meat and dairy products), being physically active (half an hour or more of daily activity), moderate alcohol use, and nonsmoking on rates of death in elderly Europeans. The 12-year study included 1,507 apparently healthy men and 832 women, aged 70 to 90 years, in 11 European countries.</b></font> <p><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>The researchers found that a Mediterranean diet was associated with a 23 percent lower risk of death from any any causes. Similarly, moderate alcohol use was linked with a 22 percent lower risk; physical activity, 37 percent lower; and nonsmoking, 35 percent lower. </b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>Similar results were found for death rates when broken down by cause of death: coronary heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Having all four low risk factors lowered death rate from all causes by 65 percent. In total, 60 percent of all deaths, 64 percent of deaths from coronary heart disease, 61 percent from cardiovascular diseases, and 60 percent from cancer were associated with lack of adherence to this low-risk pattern.</b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>The findings were published in the September 22/29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.</b></font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>It's particularly important for older people to adopt healthy diet and lifestyle practices, the researchers say. Dietary patterns and lifestyle factors are associated with death from all causes, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, but few studies have investigated these factors in combination.</b></font></p> </body>