Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:18:35.740Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mediterranean diet and overall mortality differences in the European Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Dimitrios Trichopoulos  and
Pagona Lagiou
Dimitrios Trichopoulos*
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, 75 M. Asias Street, GR-115 27, Athens, Greece Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Pagona Lagiou
Affiliation:
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, 75 M. Asias Street, GR-115 27, Athens, Greece Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Objective:

To assess whether the Mediterranean diet contributes to overall mortality differences and trends between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean European Union (EU) countries.

Design:

Routinely recorded adjusted overall mortality and food availability data in Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean EU countries. A Mediterranean diet score designed a priori was used as instrument.

Setting:

Fifteen EU countries in the 1960s and the 1990s.

Subjects:

The general population in the 15 EU countries.

Results:

The difference between Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean EU countries in a 7-point Mediterranean diet score was reduced from 2.9 in the 1960s to 1.6 in the 1990s. This reduction may underlie the reduction in the difference in general mortality between these countries, from about 100 deaths per 100 000 person-years in the early 1970s to about 50 deaths per 100 000 person-years in the 1990s.

Conclusions:

The decline in overall mortality in the 15 EU countries over the last 25 years is probably unrelated to diet. However, the gradual loss of the survival advantage of Mediterranean EU citizens, compared with other EU citizens, may be linked to the gradual abandonment by the former of their dietary traditions.

Keywords

Mediterranean dietMortalityTrendsEuropean Union
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 7 , Issue 7 , October 2004 , pp. 949 - 951
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2004

References

1World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)/American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective. Washington, DC: WCRF/AICR, 1997.Google Scholar
2Willett, W. Nutritional Epidemiology 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998; 528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Willett, WC, Trichopoulos, D. Summary of the evidence: nutrition and cancer. Cancer Causes & Control 1996; 7: 178–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Tavani, A, La Vecchia, C. Fruit and vegetable consumption and cancer risk in a Mediterranean population. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1995; 61(Suppl. 6): 1374S–7S.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5World Health Organization (WHO), Regional Office for Europe. Health for All Database. Copenhagen: WHO, 1999.Google Scholar
6Willett, WC. Diet and health: what should we eat? Science 1994; 264: 532–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7Trichopoulos, D, Lagiou, P. Dietary patterns and mortality. British Journal of Nutrition 2001; 85: 133–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Willett, WC, Sacks, F, Trichopoulou, A, Drescher, G, Ferro-Luzzi, A, Helsing, E, et al. Mediterranean diet pyramid: a cultural model for healthy eating. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1995; 61(Suppl. 6): 1402S–6S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Trichopoulos, D, Lagiou, P, Trichopoulou, A. Evidence-based nutrition. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000; 9(Suppl.): S4–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Trichopoulou, A, Kouris-Blazos, A, Wahlqvist, M, Gnardellis, C, Lagiou, P, Polychronopoulos, E, et al. Diet and overall survival in elderly people. British Medical Journal 1995; 311: 1457–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11Osler, M, Schroll, M. Diet and mortality in a cohort of elderly people in a north European community. International Journal of Epidemiology 1997; 26: 155–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Kouris-Blazos, A, Gnardellis, C, Wahlqvist, ML, Trichopoulos, D, Lukito, WTrichopoulou, A. Are the advantages of the Mediterranean diet transferable to other populations? A cohort study in Melbourne, Australia. British Journal of Nutrition 1999; 82: 57–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13Lasheras, C, Fernandez, S, Patterson, AM. Mediterranean diet and age with respect to overall survival in institutionalized, nonsmoking elderly people. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000; 71: 987–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14Trichopoulou, A, Lagiou, P, Kuper, H, Trichopoulos, D. Cancer and Mediterranean dietary traditions. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 2000; 9: 869–73.Google ScholarPubMed
15Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO Statistical Databases. Food Balance Sheets. Rome: FAO, 2001.Google Scholar
16Albert, CM, Campos, H, Stampfer, MJ, Ridker, PM, Manson, JE, Willett, WC, et al. Blood levels of long-chain n -3 fatty acids and the risk of sudden death. New England Journal of Medicine 2002; 346: 1113–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17Serra-Majem, L, La Vecchia, C, Ribas-Barba, LPrieto-Ramos, F, Lucchini, F, Ramon, JM, et al. Changes in diet and mortality from selected cancers in southern Mediterranean countries, 1960–1989. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1993; 47(Suppl. 1): S25–34.Google ScholarPubMed
18Serra-Majem, L, Ribas, L, Tresserras, R, Ngo, J, Salleras, L. How could changes in diet explain changes in coronary heart disease mortality in Spain? The Spanish paradox. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1995; 61(Suppl. 6): 1351S–9S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed