Mediterranean Diet Reduces Mortality Among CHD Sufferers

BOSTON, Mass. --Patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) who highly adhered to a traditional Mediterranean diet had a 27-percent lower mortality rate than others with CHD enrolled in the same study. Published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (165:929-935, 2005), the study involved 1,302 Greek men and women diagnosed with CHD whose diets were assessed and recorded prior to enrollment through a food frequency questionnaire. Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was two units (out of a 10-unit diet score) higher than the usual dietary intakes during the year preceding enrollment. The overall degree of dietary adherence was assessed using proportional hazards regression, with mortality overall or by cause (cardiac vs. non-cardiac). Thirty-one percent of subjects had reduced mortality when only cardiac deaths were considered as relevant outcome. Researchers concluded greater adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet is associated with a significant reduction in mortality among individuals diagnosed with CHD.