Mediterranean Diet – Recipe for Long Life?

Sharon Moore December 04, 2014

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The Mediterranean diet might be the recipe to long life. While the diet has been consistently linked with health benefits, including reduced mortality and reduced risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, it also appears to be associated with longer telomere length—an established marker of slower aging.

The diet involves vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes (such as peas, beans and lentils), and (mainly unrefined) grains; a high intake of olive oil but a low intake of saturated fats; a moderately high intake of fish, a low intake of dairy products, meat and poultry; and regular but moderate intake of alcohol (specifically wine with meals).

Researchers from Boston followed the health of nearly 5,000 nurses over more than a decade. A diet score ranging from 0-9 points was calculated for each participant, with a higher score representing a closer resemblance to the Mediterranean diet.

They looked at tiny structures called telomeres that safeguard the ends of our chromosomes, which store our DNA code. Telomeres sit on the end of chromosomes (like the plastic tips on the end of shoelaces), stopping them from fraying and scrambling the genetic codes they contain. In healthy people, telomeres shorten progressively throughout life, more than halving in length from infancy to adulthood, and halving again in the very elderly. These protective caps prevent the loss of genetic information during cell division.

Shorter telomeres are thus associated with lower life expectancy and greater risk of age-related diseases. Lifestyle factors, such as obesity, cigarette smoking, and consumption of sugar sweetened drinks, have all been linked to people having shorter telomeres than typically occur in people of a similar age. Oxidative stress and inflammation have also been shown to speed up telomere shortening.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest population-based study specifically addressing the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and telomere length in healthy, middle-aged women," they write. "Our results further support the benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet for promoting health and longevity."

"These results reinforce our advice that eating a balanced and healthy diet can reduce your risk of developing heart disease.” says The British Heart Foundation.