Eat Mediterranean Foods, Live Long

tidbits that tantalizeGreat Food - No Seasickness...

Winter, 2007

Maybe you should have listened to your wife's plaintive pleas to move to a warmer locale. But, heck, you grew up in the north, you love the ice and snow, you're stout of mind and body - well, at least body...

And, now your wife wants to take a cruise to the Mediterranean...

Well, even if a Mediterranean cruise is not in your future, you can still find great advantage by emulating their lifestyle. A recent study shows that eating a Mediterranean diet helps you live longer. And, unlike the cruise, there's little risk of seasickness.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge assessed the diets and mortality rates of over 380,000 American men and women between the ages of 50 and 71. They specifically looked at the degree to which individuals adhered to a Mediterranean-style diet. They then correlated those results with the likelihood of death, from any cause, in the following five years. The results are quite striking.

Men who ate a diet closest to the Mediterranean diet were 21% less likely to die during the follow-up period. And, in a bit of an oddity, the news is even better for smokers. Those smokers eating a Mediterranean diet reduced their risk of death by almost 50%. That's fabulous, but... It's believed the effect is more significant in smokers because their need is greater. They simply have more need of the antioxidant impact of the Mediterranean diet because of their smoking habit.

A Mediterranean diet is both simple and tasty. It's choke full of fruits and veggies, fish, olive oil, and nuts. Oh, and a nice glass of red wine, of course.

A long, healthy life without the seasickness? What could be better?

To read more about the study, see this from Reuters. To read more about the benefit of a Mediterranean diet, see this from the Mayo Clinic.