Athens, Greece - More evidence supporting the benefits of a Mediterranean diet has been reported from a study showing it to be associated with a significant reduction in mortality among individuals diagnosed as having coronary heart disease.[1]

The study, published in the April 25, 2005 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, used data from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), a large, general population-based cohort study looking at the role of biological, dietary, lifestyle, and environmental factors in the etiology of chronic diseases.

The current analysis examined the association between the degree of adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet and survival in 1302 Greek men and women with diagnosed coronary heart disease enrolled in the EPIC trial, who were followed up for an average of 3.78 years.

Adherence was assessed by a 10-unit score that incorporates the salient characteristics of the Mediterranean diet, which is based on food with a high content of olive oil. There were a total of 131 deaths from any cause among the patients in this analysis, and results showed that greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet by two units was associated with a 27% lower mortality rate. Cardiac deaths (85 in total) were reduced by 31%. Associations between individual food groups contributing to the Mediterranean diet score and mortality were generally not significant.

The authors, led by Dr Antonia Trichopoulou (University of Athens Medical School, Greece), describe their findings as "remarkable." They note that the beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet in the prognosis of coronary heart disease have been demonstrated in two large, randomized secondary-prevention trials of supplementation with specific components of the diet.

Trichopoulou et al say that their observational study complements these results but also suggests that the benefit is not due to just a single component of the diet but rather "that it can be achieved by people with coronary heart disease in the general population whose diets approach the Mediterranean optimal diet in variable ways chosen at will."