Increased adherence to certain aspects of the Mediterranean diet — in particular, more vegetables, less meat and moderate wine consumption — was associated with a 14% decrease in overall mortality, according to data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition study.

Stay connected - Sign Up for the E-mail News Wire!

Researchers examined adherence to a Mediterranean diet in 23,349 healthy Greek adults.

During 8.5 years of follow-up, increased adherence to a Mediterranean diet was significantly associated with a reduction in total mortality. The researchers reported 652 deaths attributed to all-cause mortality in 12,694 participants with Mediterranean diet scores between zero and four and 423 deaths among 10,655 participants with a diet score of five or higher. Higher scores were associated with greater conformity to the diet.

Contributors of low mortality were: moderate wine consumption (23.5%), low consumption of meat products (16.6%), high nut and fruit consumption (11.2%), high monounsaturated to saturated lipid ratio (10.6%) and high legume consumption (9.7%). Minimal contributions were found for cereals, dairy products, fish and seafood.

“Vegetables and legumes in salads or cooked foods prepared with olive oil are very beneficial,” Dimitrios Trichopoulos, MD, professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, told Endocrine Today. “Reduction of meat intake is also important and where excessive alcohol consumption sharply increases mortality, moderate consumption of wine during meals has beneficial effects.”

Diet varies across populations and between sections of the same population, making analyses like the EPIC study difficult to provide universally applicable results, according to the researchers. – by Jennifer Southall

Trichopoulou A. BMJ. 2009;338:b2337.