Anti-Aging a Benefit of the Mediterranean Diet
Longer telomeres, considered a marker of slower aging, are associated with consuming a Mediterranean diet, new research shows. The Mediterranean diet is characterized by high intakes of vegetables, fruit, nuts, legumes, unrefined grains, and olive oil; fish consumption; low intake of full-fat dairy products, meat, and poultry; and moderate consumption of alcohol (notably, wine with meals). Key components of the diet have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but researchers emphasized that telomere length was not associated with any individual component of the diet, rather the dietary pattern as a whole.
Telomeres. Telomeres are DNA sequences located at the end of chromosomes that help to protect the chromosomes and prevent them from fraying. As people age, telomeres shorten, halving in length between infancy and adulthood, then halving again with onset of old age. Shortened telomeres are associated with decreased life expectancy and developing age-related chronic diseases. However, telomere shortening can be modified independent of chronological age via lifestyle habits, including diet.
More than 4,500 women ranging in age from 42-70 participated in the study, which used data from the Nurses’ Health Study, a cohort of 121,700 female registered nurses in 11 states, aged 30-55 years at enrollment, that was established in 1976.
Based on a detailed food questionnaire and a blood test to determine the length of their telomeres, each participant was assigned a diet score that ranged from 0 – 9, based on how closely their diet resembled the Mediterranean diet. Researchers found that greater adherence to the diet was linked to longer telomeres, and that a change of one point in the diet scale corresponded with 1.5 years of telomere aging.
Researchers compared differences in telomere length to other lifestyle habits. For example, a three-point change in diet score would correspond to 4.5 years of aging, comparable to the difference between smokers and non-smokers (4.6 years), and between highly active women and less active women (4.4 years).
Bottom Line. The study reinforces previous studies that determined the Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest eating plans; it is recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Immaculata de Vivo, PhD, MPH, Associate Epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, led the current study, which appeared in The BMJ online Dec. 2, 2014.
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