Does the Mediterranean diet predict longevity in the elderly? A Swedish perspective - PubMed (original) (raw)

Does the Mediterranean diet predict longevity in the elderly? A Swedish perspective

Gianluca Tognon et al. Age (Dordr). 2011 Sep.

Abstract

Dietary pattern analysis represents a useful improvement in the investigation of diet and health relationships. Particularly, the Mediterranean diet pattern has been associated with reduced mortality risk in several studies involving both younger and elderly population groups. In this research, relationships between dietary macronutrient composition, as well as the Mediterranean diet, and total mortality were assessed in 1,037 seventy-year-old subjects (540 females) information. Diet macronutrient composition was not associated with mortality, while a refined version of the modified Mediterranean diet index showed a significant inverse association (HR=0.93, 95% CI: 0.89; 0.98). As expected, inactive subjects, smokers and those with a higher waist circumference had a higher mortality, while a reduced risk characterized married and more educated people. Sensitivity analyses (which confirmed our results) consisted of: exclusion of one food group at a time in the Mediterranean diet index, exclusion of early deaths, censoring at fixed follow-up time, adjusting for activities of daily living and main cardiovascular risk factors including weight/waist circumference changes at follow up. In conclusion, we can reasonably state that a higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet pattern, especially by consuming wholegrain cereals, foods rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a limited amount of alcohol, predicts increased longevity in the elderly.

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Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 1

Dose–response analyses based on Cox-proportional hazard model (adjusted for gender, baseline BMI, waist circumference, physical activity, marital status, smoking status, birth cohort and education) comparing mortality risk in subjects characterized by a refined mMDS ≤1 with the same risk in subjects in the other score categories. Dots and vertical lines indicate HR and 95% confidence limits

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