Mediterranean Diet With a Lower Risk of Mortality in Older Adults

Mediterranean diet, which had been assessed through an index made with biomarkers during a 20-year scientific monitoring, is associated with a lower mortality in adults over 65.

This is one of the main conclusions of a study led by Cristina Andrés-Lacueva, head of the Research Group on Biomarkers and Nutritional & Food Metabolomics of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the University of Barcelona (UB) and the CIBER on Fragility and Healthy Ageing (CIBERFES), also formed by the Food Innovation Network of Catalonia (XIA).

‘Mediterranean diet, which had been assessed through an index made with biomarkers, is associated with a lower mortality in adults over 65.’

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This study has been published in the journal BCM Medicine, and it has been processed in collaboration with the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) of the United States. According to this study, the analyses of dietary biomarkers in plasma and urine could be the individualized food assessment for old people.

This study is based on the InCHIANTI project, conducted in the region of the Italian Tuscany, a study that has been carried out during 20 years in a total of 642 participants (56% women) aged over 65 or more, which enabled researchers to obtain a complete data on food biomarkers.

“We develop an index of dietary biomarkers based on food groups that are part of the Mediterranean diet, and we assess their association with mortality,” said the UB Professor Cristina Andrés-Lacueva, head of the research group in CIBERFES.

Diet from Crete for Healthy Heart
Mediterranean diets, special attention has been given to the traditional Greek Cretan diet. It emphasises the consumption of olive oil, whole grains, pulses, wild greens, herbs and fruits.

In this study, researchers chose the reference levels of the following dietary biomarkers in the urine: total polyphenols and resveratrol metabolites (from grape intake) and presents in plasma, plasma carotenoids, selenium, vitamin B12, fatty acids, and their proportion of monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids. They have used a predictive model, and were evaluating the associations of the Mediterranean diet index and the food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) with mortality.

During the years of monitoring of the study, there were 425 deaths (139 due to cardiovascular diseases and 89 due to cancer-related causes). Once the models were analyzed, the scores of the Mediterranean diet using the biomarkers were inversely associated with all causes of death.

Mediterranean Diet - Benefits - Components - Olive Oil - FAQs
Mediterranean diet has long been considered one of the healthiest diets on the planet. This diet plan discourages the use of saturated fats and hydrogenated oils while cooking meals.

This study, thus, highlights the use of dietary biomarkers to improve the assessment of nutritional factors and guides it for older people. As noted by the CIBERFES researcher of the UB Tomás Meroño, co-first signatory of the study, the researchers “confirm that an adherence to the Mediterranean diet assessed by a panel of dietary biomarkers is inversely associated with the long-term mortality in older adults, which supports the use of these biomarkers in monitoring evaluations to study the health benefits associated with the Mediterranean diet.”

Source-Medindia