There are two types of diets that lower the risk of death. And in many points they coincide, because the fundamental principles are the same: ample space for fresh vegetables, nuts and whole grains, very little for red meat, little for fish and cheese, all industrially processed as little as possible, and seasoned with polyunsaturated fatty acids, preferably with extra virgin olive oil.
The Mediterranean diet and the one defined as Planetary Health achieve similar results, which also takes into account the sustainability of what you eat, the subject of two different studies released a few weeks apart.
The Mediterranean diet
For some time the so-called Mediterranean diet, typical of the countries bordering this sea, and based on vegetables and fruit, fish, extra virgin olive oil, nuts and whole grains, has been associated with beneficial effects on health, to the point of having become a reference for most official guidelines. And now a study with data covering 25 years, published in JAMA by researchers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, shows a reduction of about a quarter in mortality from all causes in those who follow it. In it the sample was made up of women who took part in the large Women’s Health Initiative study, launched in 1993, initially designed to verify the effects of a low dose of aspirin and vitamin E on oncological and cardiovascular risk.
Officially closed in 2004, over time it has continued to produce data, which has led to more than 700 publications, and is still a source of evaluations by various researchers today. In this case, in addition to checking the mortality rates, the authors wanted to go deeper, to try to determine what was causing such a clear effect.
Diet and inflammation
They measured around 40 markers of different metabolic areas in around 25,000 women, and discovered that those who faithfully follow the Mediterranean diet have a very evident lowering of inflammatory indices compared to those who follow it less, and that this parameter is the element more closely associated with a decline in mortality. Followed by those linked to blood lipids, obesity and insulin resistance, and then short-chain amino acids, the two forms of HDL and LDL cholesterol and blood sugar, while blood pressure values have a secondary role.
Even with all the limitations deriving from the fact that an association does not demonstrate the existence of a cause and effect link, that the sample was made up of mostly Caucasian and moderately educated women, who self-reported what they ate, a reduction in mortality 23% appears to be indicative of an effect. Furthermore, it emerges above all among the two main causes of death: cardiovascular diseases and tumors.
The planet’s diet
The reduction in the risk of death could be even higher, and equal to around 30%, for those who decide to also take into account the sustainability of what they bring to the table, i.e. who follow the so-called Planetary Health Diet (PHD). The second study, published inAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also conducted by researchers in Boston, but this time from Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health. The authors, in particular, verified the consequences of a diet that respects the principles expressed by the 2019 Lancet report, which they renamed PHD.
To this end, they analyzed the data of approximately 200,000 people who had taken part in three other very important studies, which also continue to provide valuable information: those on nurses (Nurses’ Health Study I and II) and that on male healthcare professionals (Health Professionals Follow-Up Study), who had answered questions on 15 types of food every four years for 34 years, and for whom medical data were available.
Reduce the risk of death
The result was that, for those who were in the top 10% of PHD adherence, the risk of death was reduced by more than 30%, compared to those who were at the other extreme, i.e. in the top 10%. poor compliance with the diet. In addition to general mortality, all the main death rates, namely those from cancer, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and pulmonary diseases, were lower in those who followed the PHD.
In this case, the environmental impact of what the participants had chosen to eat was also checked. Those who had respected the dictates of the PHD had had a reduction in emissions associated with their food by 29%, in the use of fertilizers by 21% and in land use by 51%.
According to the authors, health authorities should also include this type of assessment when recommending a certain diet. The reason is intuitive: if you eat better, you contribute to improving the condition of the planet. But a healthier Earth also corresponds to an improvement in human health, for example thanks to better air quality, or the containment of global warming.
Diet is a crucial part of the One Health approach, and the increase in studies that bring together nutrition, health and sustainability shows that, finally, awareness on this aspect is growing.
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