Mediterranean diet can increase life expectancy- study

The health benefits of a Mediterranean diet have been known for some time. A diet rich in high amounts of cereals, fruits, nuts, legumes and whole grains, fish and olive oil and low in meat and alcohol, is already being recommended by physicians to prevent heart disease, strokes, cancer, allergic rhinitis and asthma symptoms.

Healthy diets boosts lifespan
Now, a team of researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands has linked Mediterranean diet to longevity in both men and women.

The researchers suggest that this type of eating pattern can increase life expectancy when combined with exercising.

"Very few research studies worldwide have analysed the relationship between a combination of lifestyle factors and mortality in this way,” said lead author Piet van den Brandt, who is Professor of epidemiology at Maastricht University.

"This study shows that a healthy lifestyle can lead to significant health benefits."

Study details
For the purpose of the study, Van den Brandt and colleagues tracked 120,000 men and women between the ages of 55 and 69 in 1986, according to the Daily Mail.

The researchers studied the diet plans of the participants and their adherence to four key factors that have been shown to affect mortality: smoking, physical activity, body weight and dietary habits, for a period of ten years.

The researchers provided the study participants with Mediterranean diet, which comprised of vegetables, olive oil, fruit, nuts, fish and whole grains, and small consumption of meat and alcohol. During the study, the team found that the effect of the diet is stronger on the health of women.

Study findings
After the 10-year follow-up, the researchers found that men who stuck to the heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet, avoided smoking, exercised at least 30 minutes a day and avoided obesity lived about 8.5 years longer, on average, than men who didn't do any of those things.

Surprisingly, adhering to the four healthy lifestyle factors had an even bigger effect on women's lifespan, with those who met all four criteria lived 15 years longer than women who met none.

"The effects of a Mediterranean diet were more evident in women than in men," Van den Brandt said.

"I was surprised that the effect was so big," he added. "I was also surprised at the big difference between men and women."

The study findings appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.