Medical experts and organisations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) described the Mediterranean diet as one of the healthiest regimens globally.

Adopting a Mediterranean lifestyle, from a dietary and social aspect, has proven to reduce the risk of all-cause and cancer-related mortality, a new study by La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health revealed on Wednesday.

Published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the new study suggested a possible link between cancer survival rates and following a Mediterranean lifestyle, echoing previous similar studies. However, the recent research was conducted on participants who are not from the Mediterranean region.

Instead, experts at the two institutions conducted the study on 110,799 members of the United Kingdom Biobank cohort using the Mediterranean Lifestyle (MEDLIFE) index that analyses lifestyles.

The Mediterranean lifestyle includes a plant-based and nutrient- rich diet with limited salt and sugar levels. The habits also include enjoying “adequate rest, physical activity, and socialisation”.

“This study suggests that it’s possible for non-Mediterranean populations to adopt the Mediterranean diet using locally available products and to adopt the overall Mediterranean lifestyle within their own cultural contexts,” Mercedes Sotos Prieto, the study’s lead author and research fellow at La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Methodology

Researchers had divided the participants, aged between 40 and 75, into three groups in order to determine their MEDLIFE scores.

The first incorporated Mediterranean food in their daily consumption whereas the second included those who adopted habits such as limiting salt and drinking healthy beverages. 

The third group was labelled as the “physical activity, rest, and social habits and conviviality” category, which included adopting Mediterranean lifestyle habits such as resting, napping and socialising.

The experts later followed up on the participants nine years later and found that 4,247 died from all causes, 2,401 from cancer, and 731 others from cardiovascular disease. 

Upon further analysis into their lifestyles, the researchers found that those with the higher MEDLIFE scores displayed a 29% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 28% lower risk of cancer mortality in comparison with those with a lower scores on the index.

“The ‘physical activity, rest, and social habits and conviviality’ category was most strongly associated with these lowered risks, and additionally was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality,” the study added.

Medical experts and organisations, including the World Health Organization (WHO) described the Mediterranean diet as one of the healthiest regimens globally.

In 2018, a report by WHO unveiled “the health-promoting properties of the Mediterranean and New Nordic diets, including protective effects against cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.”

“However, guidance is lacking on how to effectively translate the health benefits of these diets into specific, measurable and achievable policies that improve dietary behaviours at the population level,” the report said.

WHO also discovered that social and cultural factors linked to the Mediterranean diet including eating in social settings “are also thought to contribute to the attributed positive health effects” in the region.