Mediterranean diet helps women live longer, reducing heart disease and cancer risks
Following a Mediterranean diet can help women reduce their risk of all-cause mortality by nearly 25%, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open.[1]
The Mediterranean diet, named for its connection to the traditional eating habits of Greece and Italy, is based on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and olive oil. While it primarily focuses on plant-based options, it does permit fish, seafood, poultry and dairy products to be eaten in moderation.
While the Mediterranean diet is regularly listed as one of the very best diets for a person’s heart health, its long-term impact on the heart health of women remains a bit of a mystery.
Researchers with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School aimed to learn more about that very topic, exploring decades of data from more than 25,000 women. The mean baseline age of the women was 54.6 years old, and the mean follow-up period was nearly 25 years. A vast majority (94.9%) of patients were white.
Overall, closely adhering to a Mediterranean diet was linked to a 23% lower risk of all-cause mortality. It also appeared to help women reduce their risk of mortality related to cancer or cardiovascular disease. Biomarkers of metabolism and inflammation contributed the most to these trends, but triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, obesity and insulin resistance also appeared to play a role.
“For women who want to live longer, our study says watch your diet!” senior author Samia Mora, MD, a cardiologist with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and director of Center for Lipid Metabolomics, said in a statement. “The good news is that following a Mediterranean dietary pattern could result in about a one-quarter reduction in risk of death over more than 25 years with benefit for both cancer and cardiovascular mortality, the top causes of death in women (and men) in the U.S. and globally.”
“Our research provides significant public health insight: even modest changes in established risk factors for metabolic diseases—particularly those linked to small molecule metabolites, inflammation, triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, obesity, and insulin resistance—can yield substantial long-term benefits from following a Mediterranean diet,” added lead author Shafqat Ahmad, PhD, a researcher with the Center for Lipid Metabolomics and associate professor of epidemiology at Uppsala University in Sweden. “This finding underscores the potential of encouraging healthier dietary habits to reduce the overall risk of mortality.”
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.