Mediterranean diet increases longevity and better health

eat more of these colourful vegies and live a longer life

A Mediterranean diet with large amounts of vegetables and fish gives a longer life. This is the unanimous result of four studies to be published by the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg. Research studies ever since the 1950s have shown that a Mediterranean diet, based on a high consumption of fish and vegetables and a low consumption of animal-based products such as meat and milk, leads to better health.

Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy have now studied the effects of a Mediterranean diet on older people in Sweden. They have used a unique study known as the “H70 study” to compare 70-year-olds who eat a Mediterranean diet with others who have eaten more meat and animal products. The H70 study has studied thousands of 70-year-olds in the Gothenburg region for more than 40 years.

The results show that those who eat a Mediterranean diet have a 20% higher chance of living longer. “This means in practice that older people who eat a Mediterranean diet live an estimated 2 3 years longer than those who don’t”, says Gianluca Tognon, scientist at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.

These results are supported by three further as yet unpublished studies into Mediterranean diets and their health effects: one carried out on people in Denmark, the second on people in northern Sweden, and the third on children.

“The conclusion we can draw from these studies is that there is no doubt that a Mediterranean diet is linked to better health, not only for the elderly but also for youngsters”, says Gianluca Tognon.

So fact or BS?

Fact 1: Without looking at the paper there is no identifying controls to the H70 study. Were these people fat or thin? Did they have any pre-existing medical conditions?

Fact 2: Studying the diets of thousands of 70 year olds for more than 40 years?

Fact 3: Definition of meat please?

Fact 4: people who eat mediterranean diets live 2 to 3 years longer than those who dont. Defer to Fact 1.

Fact 5: What are the environmental conditions of the people living in Denmark, Northern Sweden and where are the children who were studied located? And again defer to Fact 1.

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