The Mediterranean Diet is said to have a lot of healthful effects and it suggests the dieters who follow this system would live longer than other people who are on other diets. However, it has been proven that it is not the case.
A study published in "The BMJ" has found out that women following the Mediterranean diet have longer telomeres. Telomeres are those protecting people's chromosomes and their length is related to the aging of the cells. Basically, when people age, their telomeres grow shorter.
The report has been based on a data that included 4,676 women that participated in the Nurses' Health Study who were able to complete food-frequency questionnaires and agreed to have the length of their telomere measured.
The main finding of the study included women adhering to the said diet had longer telomeres to adjust with their age even if other significant factors such as body mass index, smoking history, exercise, hypertension, postmenopausal hormone therapy were measured.
However, it was found out that there was no significant link between the length of the telomere with that of the individual components of the Mediterranean diet. These components included consumption of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, fish, whole grains, and monounsaturated fats such as olive oil.
It also talked about moderate alcohol intake as well as below average eating of red and processed meats. The authors pointed out that the importance of examining the relation between the two should also look into the separate dietary factors and health of the dieters.
In contrast with this, it was still found out that dieters following the Mediterranean diet have approximately an additional 4.5 years of life. The authors said, "To our knowledge, this is the largest population-based study specifically addressing the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and telomere length in healthy, middle-aged women."
Despite these claims, critics say that telomere lengths is a worthy goal but it has not been validated yet in human beings and that it is still a surrogate endpoint. Also, the paper passed is an observational study thus it should not be a basis to say that this diet will cause longevity.
