Consuming fruits, olive oil, vegetables and fish, the pillars of the Mediterranean diet, have been associated on many occasions with incredible benefits for our health. Now, new research published in The British Medical Journal suggests that the Mediterranean diet can also help slow the aging process by lengthening telomeres.
The study, carried out by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School (USA), used data from the Nurses’ Health Study to examine whether there was an association between this diet and telomere length, considered a marker of slowing aging . Telomeres, which naturally shorten as we age, halve from childhood to adulthood and then halve again in early old age. Telomere shortening is associated with a shorter life expectancy .
In total, 4,676 medical records were analyzed , relating to healthy, middle-aged women who had detailed blood tests and questionnaires on nutrition. The results revealed that greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with longer telomeres, with an average of 1.5 years more for each greater approach to the habits of the Mediterranean diet, characterized by a high intake of vegetables, fruits, fruits dried vegetables or legumes, a high consumption of olive oil and little saturated fat, a high consumption of fish, a low consumption of dairy products, meat and poultry, and a moderate but habitual consumption of wine with meals. All this has made it one of the healthiest diets that exist .
