Mediterranean Cuisine and Telomeres, 3

There is continuing interest in the relationship between telomere length and aging and what can contributes to longer telomeres. U.S. researchers, led by Immaculata De Vivo, Associate Professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, studied whether following a Mediterranean style of eating was associated with longer telomere length. After adjusting for other potentially influential factors, the results show that greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was significantly associated with longer telomeres. Interestingly, longer telomere length reflected the overall Mediterranean dietary pattern and not just one factor within that pattern. A Mediterranean style of eating is also being recommended for prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Marta Crous-Bou et al. Mediterranean diet and telomere length in Nurses’ Health Study: population based cohort study. BMJ 2014;349:g6674; DOI: 10.1136/bmj.g6674 (open access)