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Meer bewijs dat mediterraan dieet de kans op doodgaan verkleind.*
Een studie onder 22.000 Grieken en over een periode van 4
jaar bevestigt dat een duidelijk mediterraan dieet (veel groente, fruit, vis,
yogurt, noten en olijfolie e.d.) de kans om dood te gaan aan een hartziekte wel
met 33% verkleint en die op kanker met 24%.
A Mediterranean-type diet --
rich in vegetables, legumes, fruits and olive oil -- indeed appears to lower the
risk of death, researchers said Wednesday.
After following more than
22,000 adults in Greece for almost four years, Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos and
his colleagues found that people who closely followed the Mediterranean-type
diet were less likely to die of any cause, including the major killers heart
disease and cancer.
Previous studies have shown
that people living in Mediterranean regions tend to live longer than North
Americans and people from Northern Europe, and this latest research adds further
evidence to the theory that Mediterranean peoples could be eating their way
towards long life.
The current study, appearing
in The New England Journal of Medicine, "goes a long way in documenting
that, in the end, diet really matters," said Trichopoulos, who holds
positions at Harvard University in Boston and the University of Athens in Greece.
Although some investigators
are skeptical of the benefits of the Mediterranean-type diet, "when you
face the data, you just have to believe it," Trichopoulos told Reuters
Health.
He said that the current study
was conducted in people who were apparently healthy, but previous research has
shown that following a Mediterranean-type diet can also help people with
illnesses, like heart disease.
"It seems to be a diet
good for the healthy as well as the sick," Trichopoulos said.
The traditional Mediterranean
diet contains many components, including a high intake of fruits and vegetables,
nuts and cereals, and olive oil. Followers of the diet often have wine with
their meals, regularly down fish and dairy products -- largely in the form of
cheese and yogurt -- and only rarely eat meat and poultry.
During the study, Trichopoulos
and his team surveyed 22,043 adults in Greece about their eating habits, noting
how closely each person followed the traditional Mediterranean diet. The
researchers then followed participants for 44 months, noting who died, and of
what cause.
After almost four years, the
researchers recorded 275 deaths. And the more closely a person followed the
Mediterranean diet at the outset of the study, the less likely he was to die of
any cause.
In addition, people who
followed the Mediterranean diet more closely than others were also 33 percent
less likely to die from heart disease, and 24 percent less likely to die from
cancer.
Interestingly, after breaking
down the individual components of the Mediterranean diet, Trichopoulos and his
colleagues discovered that no single component appeared to reduce the risk of
death. This finding suggests that each component has only a small effect,
visible only when all are combined, or that the effects of the different
components interact, causing benefits only when combined, the authors write.
In an accompanying editorial,
Dr. Frank B. Hu of Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston
writes that in many countries near the Mediterranean, including Greece, dietary
habits are changing, with more people embracing Western diets filled with
saturated fat and refined carbohydrates.
As evidence of this shift, Hu
notes that the prevalence of obesity in Greece has risen "dramatically"
in recent years.
Trichopoulos said that this
trend is indeed occurring, but noted that older generations and people living in
rural areas in Greece continue to follow the Mediterranean style of eating.
Furthermore, he said, some young, educated people are rediscovering the benefits
of the diet, and changing their eating habits accordingly.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine 2003;348:2595-2596,2599-2608.