Search Results for: ‘mediterranean’
Mediterranean Diet Score
Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS): A score indicating compliance to the Mediterranean diet. A high intake of the Mediterranean foods: cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables, olive oil and fish were scored positive (1) and and a high intake of the non-Mediterranean foods: dairy and meat negative (0). The score ranged from 0 to 9 and the higher the score the better the compliance to a traditional Mediterranean diet.
Mediterranean Adequacy Index
Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI): An index score based on typical Mediterranean foods: bread, cereals, legumes, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, vegetable oils, fish and red wine and on non-typical Mediterranean foods: milk, cheese, eggs, meat, animal fats and margarines, sugar, cakes, pies and cookies.
Mediterranean style diets and cardiovascular disease
A Mediterranean style diet was consistently associated with lower cardiovascular risk
Adhering to a Mediterranean style diet was associated with a 39% lower coronary mortality risk and a 29% lower cardiovascular mortality risk in middle-aged and elderly European men and women in the HALE project.
The Mediterranean diet score we used was based on eight basic food groups: bread, legumes, vegetables, fruit, fish, fats, dairy products and meats. A high intake of bread, legumes, vegetables, fruit and fats rich in unsaturated fatty acids, a moderate intake of fish and a low intake of dairy and meat was characteristic of a Mediterranean diet.
Measuring habitual diets
The HALE project dealt with European elderly men and women participating in the FINE and the SENECA Studies. They were 70-90 years old at baseline and were followed for 10 years. In both studies the dietary history was recorded as the measure of habitual food consumption.
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Mediterranean dietary patterns in the 1960s
Many Mediterranean diets
Ancel Keys and his Italian colleague Flaminio Fidanza and their SCS colleagues were central to the modern recognition, definition, and promotion of the eating pattern they found in Italy and Greece in the 1950s and ’60s, now popularly called “The Mediterranean Diet”. Ancel Keys was the first researcher who associated the traditional Mediterranean diet with a low risk of CHD. However, the Mediterranean diet does not exist. The Mediterranean Sea borders 18 countries that differ markedly in geography, economic status, health, lifestyle and diet.
Traditional Mediterranean diets had olive oil as their principal component of fat, were high in cereal products, legumes, fruit and vegetables, moderate in fish and low in dairy and meat products. Moderate amounts of wine were taken with meals. The traditional Mediterranean diets were nutritionally adequate with a varying amounts of total fat, low in saturated fat and very low in trans fat, rich in fiber and in antioxidant vitamins or flavonoids.
Mediterranean diets in the the Seven Countries Study in the 1960s
The Seven Countries Study included four Mediterranean cohorts: Crete and Corfu in Greece, Dalmatia in Croatia and Montegiorgio in Italy. In the 1960s the Greek diet had the highest content of olive oil and was high in fruit, the Dalmatian diet was highest in fish and the Italian diet was high in vegetables. In line with their diet, these cohorts were characterized by low mortality rates from CHD.
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Four lifestyle factors and all-cause mortality
A healthful diet and lifestyle related to a low all-cause mortality risk
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A Mediterranean style diet, a high level of physical activity, non-smoking and moderate alcohol consumption were all associated with a low 10-year risk of all-cause mortality in the European HALE project. A very low all-cause mortality risk was observed in elderly men who had four healthful diet and lifestyle factors compared to one or none.
Interpretation
The more healthful dietary and lifestyle factors the elderly had the lower the all-cause mortality. Sixty percent of the all-cause mortality was associated with lack of adherence to this low-risk pattern. This supports the hypothesis that participants who follow a Mediterranean style diet and maintain a healthful lifestyle are less likely to die even at ages 70-90 years.
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Four lifestyle factors combined and cardiovascular disease
A healthful diet and lifestyle is related to low CVD risk
A Mediterranean style diet, a high level of physical activity, not smoking and moderate alcohol consumption were all associated with low 10-year risk of CHD and CVD in the European HALE project. A very low risk of these diseases was observed in elderly men who had four compared to those who had none or one healthful diet and lifestyle factor. We estimate that among elderly men who did not adhere to a low-risk lifestyle pattern, 64% of deaths due to CHD and 61% due to CVD might have been prevented based on the observed risk differences.
Interpretation
Among elderly men, the more healthful factors of diet and lifestyle the lower the CVD mortality observed. More than 60% of CVD mortality was associated with lack of adherence to the low-risk pattern. This finding implies that even at advanced ages those who follow a Mediterranean style diet and maintain a healthful lifestyle are less likely to die from CVD.
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Fish, omega-3 fatty acids and cognitive decline
Fish consumption related to lower cognitive decline.
In the Zutphen Elderly Study fish consumers had significantly less cognitive decline after 5 years than non-users. Similar results were obtained for the intake of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
Fish consumption related to lower cognitive decline
In the Zutphen Elderly Study fish consumers had less cognitive decline than non-users after 3 years of follow-up. However, this association was not statistically significant. After extending the follow-up period to 5 years this association became statistically significant.
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Moderate intake fatty acids EPA-DHA associated with lower cognitive decline
An average difference in consumption of 380 mg of EPA-DHA per day was associated with a significant difference in cognitive decline after 5 years of follow-up. These results suggest that a moderate intake of EPA-DHA may postpone cognitive decline.
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Cardiovascular disease
The Seven Countries Study was the first systematic prospective study on diet, lifestyle, risk factors and cardiovascular diseases in contrasting populations. All of the early relationships on the population level had CHD, mainly heart attacks, as endpoint. The data that came out of those early efforts were suitable for drawing conclusions on a population level. See also cross-cultural correlations. The predictive findings for individuals came later in the study after years of follow-up, and together provided a sound basis for preventive practice.
CVD Main topics
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Main CVD topics
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Risk factors
Risk factors such as serum cholesterol can be measured in a person and in populations, and analyzed in respect to different outcomes. Read more.
- Serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease
- Blood pressure and cardiovascular disease
- Major risk factors and cardiovascular disease
- From individual risk factors to global coronary risk
- Global coronary risk in northern and southern Europe
- Body mass index and coronary heart disease
- Glucose intolerance, diabetes and coronary heart disease
- White Blood Cell count and coronary heart disease
- Chlamydia pneumonia and coronary heart disease
- ECG predictors and coronary heart disease
- Long QT interval and coronary heart disease
- Depressive symptoms and cardiovascular disease
- Depressive symptoms, physical inactivity and cardiovascular disease
- Optimism and cardiovascular disease
Diet
Diet, including nutrients, foods, and dietary patterns, can be associated with various outcomes. Read more.
- Saturated fat, serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease
- Trans fat and coronary heart disease
- Fiber and coronary heart disease
- Antioxidant vitamins and cardiovascular disease
- Flavonols and cardiovascular disease
- Flavan-3-ols and cardiovascular disease
- Lignans and coronary heart disease
- Fish and cardiovascular diseases
- Chocolate and cardiovascular diseases
- Tea and cardiovascular diseases
- Wine and cardiovascular diseases
- Mediterranean dietary patterns in the 1960s
- Mediterranean style diets and cardiovascular disease
Lifestyle
Lifestyle may be the most peronal category, but habits like smoking and alcohol can be associated with many health outcomes. Read more.
Dietary patterns and all-cause mortality
Healthy diet associated with low all-cause mortality
A Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI) score was calculated based on the 1990 Guidelines of WHO on prevention of chronic diseases for men aged 50-70 from Finland, The Netherlands and Italy. The 20-year all-cause mortality was 13% lower in the group with the highest compared to the lowest HDI.
Mediterranean diet related to low all-cause mortality
In the HALE project the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) was associated with a 18% lower and the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) with a 17% lower 10-year all-cause mortality. The MDS and the MAI were both based on foods characteristic of the traditional Mediterranean diet in the 1960s. Within these dietary patterns, grains, fruit and fish were most strongly and inversely related to all-cause mortality.
Conclusion
All three scores indicated that a healthy dietary pattern is associated with a lower all-cause mortality.
References
Dietary patterns and coronary heart disease rates in the 16 cohorts
A high intake of animal foods is related to higher long-term CHD mortality
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The Seven Countries Study showed that animal food groups, with the exception of fish, were strongly positively related to 25-year CHD mortality and that plant foods, with the exception of potatoes, were inversely related. Of the individual foods, butter, hard margarines and meat were most strongly related to CHD mortality rates. The summary factor score was positive for animal foods and negative for plant foods. The population factor scores were strongly positively correlated with CHD mortality rates. The plant food-based Mediterranean Adequacy Index was inversely related to 25-year CHD mortality rates.
Western, Mediterranean and Japanese dietary patterns
In the 1960s dietary patterns high in animal foods and rich in saturated fat (Western diets) were characterized by a high meat intake in the US, a high dairy (whole fat milk and butter) intake in Finland, a high margarine (hardened fish oils) intake in the Netherlands and a high intake of lard in Slavonia (Croatia). Mediterranean patterns, with olive oil as the main source of fat, were characterized by a high intake of plant foods. The Japanese patterns were high in fish and soy products and had a very low saturated fat intake.