June 3, 2024 – Women who most closely followed the Mediterranean food plan had a 20% lower risk of early death than women who followed a distinct food plan, based on a brand new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School.
When researchers tried to find out what effect food plan had on the ladies's bodies when it comes to prolonging life, they found that there have been fewer signs of problems typical of diabetes and heart problems in the ladies's blood and other body fluids.
Interestingly, nonetheless, the signs of healthy body functions most related to longevity differed from those measured by standard blood tests at an annual physical exam. Abnormalities in a lady's standard cholesterol test or glucose tests for diabetes screening were only minimally related to early death, the researchers reported.
Instead, other biomarker measurements were far more informative, particularly signs of inflammation and levels of homocysteine and alanine, two kinds of amino acids made up of small molecules called metabolites, each of that are linked to heart and metabolic problems.
“Women who want to live longer should pay attention to their diet, according to our study,” said lead creator Samia Mora, MD, a Harvard professor of medication and cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, in a opinion“The good news is that over a period of more than 25 years, a Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of death by about a quarter, with positive effects on both cancer and cardiovascular mortality, the leading causes of death among women (and men) in the United States and worldwide.”
The Mediterranean food plan focuses on plant-based foods resembling vegetables, fruits, nuts and whole grains, with the most important source of fat being olive oil. The food plan includes moderate amounts of fish, poultry, dairy products and eggs and barely includes pork, sweets or processed foods.
For the study, researchers analyzed health data from greater than 25,000 women within the United States over a 25-year period. The women provided detailed details about what they ate for nearly three years, and researchers then analyzed their health records.
At the beginning of the study, all the women were considered healthy and the common age was about 55. Over the following 25 years, nearly 3,900 of the ladies died. The commonest causes of death within the group were heart disease and cancer. Women who reported following the Mediterranean food plan most closely had a 23% lower risk of early death from any cause.
The researchers identified that their research findings were limited resulting from the shortage of diversity of the people studied, who were mainly well-educated, middle-aged and older white women.