The more women followed this diet, the longer they lived.

One of the healthiest diets out there just keeps getting better.

A new study that followed more than 25,000 women for a quarter century found that the more their eating habits conformed to the Mediterranean diet, the less likely they were to die during that time — a relationship that held up even when researchers took into account other factors that affect lifespan, such as age, exercise habits, and smoking history.

of Investigation result The study was published Friday in JAMA Network Open.

of Mediterranean diet Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Antioxidant-rich extra virgin olive oil is your main source of fat. Get protein from lean foods such as beans, legumes, and nuts, as well as fish, poultry, eggs, and low-fat or non-fat dairy products. Wine is welcome in small to moderate amounts, but red and processed meats, butter, and sweets are eaten sparingly or not at all.

Dieting is a long-standing favorite of Doctor, Nutritionist and Weight Loss ProgramStudies consistently show it helps people Lose weight, Reduces cholesterol and, blood pressureAll of these reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Manage blood sugar levels Prevents type 2 diabetes.

How exactly does the Mediterranean diet accomplish this? Shafqat AhmadHe and his colleagues, who study the development of cardiovascular disease at Uppsala University in Sweden and Harvard Medical School, wanted to find the answer.

They are Women's Health ResearchThe study involved tens of thousands of female health care workers over the age of 45. The women who participated in the mid-1990s answered 131 questions about the foods they ate.

Based on these responses, the researchers gave each woman a score from 0 to 9 indicating how well she followed the Mediterranean diet. Median Participants received 1 point for their intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, and fish, as well as for their percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids above the median (Which is better?) to saturation (What's bad is) fatty acids.

Women who ate less than the median amount of red or processed meat received an extra point, as did those who consumed 5 to 15 grams of alcohol per day (the equivalent of a typical glass of wine or can of beer).

Those with a total score of 0 to 3 were classified as having “low” adherence to the Mediterranean diet, those with a total score of 4 or 5 were classified as “moderate,” and those with a total score of 6 to 9 were classified as “high.”

The Women's Health Study ended in 2004, but researchers continued to survey participants annually. Ahmad and his colleagues focused on 25,315 women who had both dietary data and a number of biomedical measurements at the time of their participation in the study.

By November 2023, 3,879 women had died. But the risks involved were not the same for everyone.

Compared to women in the low-adherence group, women in the moderate-adherence group were 16% less likely to die during the study period, and women who adhered most closely to the Mediterranean diet had a 23% lower risk of death, according to the study.

When the researchers took into account factors such as smoking behavior, physical activity, alcohol intake, and menopausal symptoms, women in the moderate group had an 8% lower risk of death, and women in the severe group had an 11% lower risk of death.

The Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of death from all causes, as well as from cancer and cardiovascular disease, the researchers said. Dr. Samia Mora“The study is a first-time study, and we're looking forward to seeing patients with heart disease in the future,” said Dr.

As for why the Mediterranean diet appears to protect against premature death, the most influential factor among the nearly 40 biomarkers the researchers tested was a group of metabolites that appeared to explain 14.8 percent of the benefit. Ahmad and his colleagues found, in particular, Alanine It also reduces levels of other amino acids. Homocysteine It is elevated in people with heart disease.

inflammation It accounts for 13% of the reduced mortality benefit enjoyed by people who adhere to the Mediterranean diet. Chronic inflammation is linked to a variety of health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers.

Female Body Mass Index And a measure of how well her body can handle it. Triglycerides and insulin resistance accounted for 7.4% and 10.2% of the reduced risk of death, respectively.

The study suggests that small improvements in these factors could lead to the Mediterranean diet's increased longevity, Ahmad said.

But he and Mora added that there must be other biological mechanisms at work that they couldn't measure in their study — the gut microbiome might be one of them, they said.

Dr. Frank HuA professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, he said the study offers “new insights” into why people who adopt a Mediterranean diet tend to live longer.

“Our results suggest that the health benefits of reduced mortality are not explained by reductions in total or LDL cholesterol, but rather by effects on harmful blood metabolites, inflammation, insulin resistance and body weight,” said Hu, who was not involved in the study.

The study comes with some caveats, including the fact that 96% of participants were white and female, meaning the findings may not generalize to the general population.

Additionally, the women were only asked about their eating habits once, so there is no way of knowing whether their eating habits changed as they got older.

but, Mercedes Sotos PietroA nutritional epidemiologist from the Autonomous University of Madrid said the findings on the reduced risk of death were: the study she carried out Using Data Nurses' Health Survey And that Health Professional Follow-up Survey Diets were assessed multiple times.

Sotos Pietro, who was not involved in the new study, said the Mediterranean diet is a “golden diet” because it includes a variety of delicious foods and doesn't prohibit anything, which makes it easier for people to stick to it over the long term, she said.

Hu added that the diet is flexible and can be adapted to many cuisines.

“For example, Asians might use tofu as a protein source and eat brown rice instead of white rice,” he says. “They can also incorporate traditional recipes and locally available foods from other cultures while still maintaining the core principles of the Mediterranean diet.”