A Greek study finds that elderly Europeans who embrace the Mediterranean diet can expect to live longer than those who eat the high-fat way.
Researchers from the University of Athens Medical School tracked 74,000 men and women over the age of 60 living in nine European countries. They found that mortality was lower among those who stuck most closely to a diet of cereal, fish, unsaturated fats like olive oil and moderate wine drinking with low consumption of meat, dairy products and saturated fats.
The association between diet and mortality was closest in Greece and Spain, the study found, possibly because residents of those countries adhere most closely to the Mediterranean style. The researchers found that a 60-year-old man who keeps to pasta, fish and olive oil would live an average of a year longer.
The study was published in the British Medical Journal.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
