Mediterranean mix

Nutrition Action Healthletter, Nov, 2003

In a study of more than 22,000 adults in Greece, those who ate a more traditional Mediterranean diet had a lower death rate (largely due to fewer deaths from heart disease and cancer) than others. Participants got points for eating foods like vegetables, fruits, beans, fish, and olive oil more often and for eating foods like meat and dairy products (which are rarely low-fat in Greece) less often. They also received points for consuming moderate amounts of alcohol. A lower death rate wasn't linked to any single food group.

What to do: It's possible that something else about the people who chose to eat a Mediterranean diet kept them alive longer. But there's plenty of evidence from other studies to recommend less fatty meat and dairy and more vegetables, fruits, beans, fish, and unsaturated oils like olive and canola.

New England Journal of Medicine 348: 2599, 2595, 2003.