Food is a pillar for staying healthy. To achieve a balanced diet, Health Insurance recommends opting for “seasonal food, low in fat, salt and sugar”, but also to eat at a fixed time and take sufficiently long meals. In addition, American researchers have targeted a very specific diet that would be beneficial in limiting the appearance of certain diseases.
Indeed, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in the United States, noticed that the Mediterranean diet could reduce the risk of mortality from all causes by 23%, particularly from cancers and cardiovascular illnesses. Their results are published in the journal JAMA Open NetWork.
The Mediterranean diet would reduce the risk of all-cause mortality by 23%
To arrive at these results, the researchers based themselves on data from a study called “Women’s Health Study” and covering the health of 25,315 women. The latter had provided blood samples as well as biomarker measurements. In total, the researchers analyzed 33 blood biomarkers “representing diverse biological pathways and clinical risk factors”. Participants were asked to report their eating habits. Researchers have classified them based on their proximity to the Mediterranean diet.
As a reminder, the Mediterranean diet is characterized by a balanced diet, marked by the consumption of fruits, vegetables, but also nuts, seeds, whole grains and even legumes. It also includes a contribution in olive oil, as well as moderate consumption of fish, poultry, dairy products, eggs and alcohol. Finally, the consumption of red meat and ultra-processed foods is drastically reduced.
Cancers, cardiovascular diseases: the Mediterranean diet would limit their appearance
The researchers noticed that participants who had eating habits close to the Mediterranean diet had a 23% reduced risk of all-cause mortality. Also, according to Professor Shafqat Ahmad, researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “even modest changes in established risk factors for metabolic diseases, particularly those related to small molecule metabolites, inflammation, triglyceride-rich lipoproteins, obesity, and insulin resistance, can generate substantial long-term benefits from following a Mediterranean diet”.
Faced with these results, Samia Mora, specialist in cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, director of the Center for Lipid Metabolomics and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, emphasizes that “following a Mediterranean diet could lead to a reduction of around a quarter in the risk of death over more than 25 years, with a benefit on both cancer and cardiovascular mortality”, the latter being the leading causes of death globally.
Sources :
- Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Risk of All-Cause Mortality in Women – JAMA Open NetWork
- Mediterranean Diet Tied to One-Fifth Lower Risk of Death in Women – Brigham and Women’s Hospital (USA) – (Communiqué)
- Adult nutrition: balanced meals throughout the week – Health Insurance
