Mediterranean Diet and Risk of Cancer
The authors of a 2014 meta-analysis and systematic review revisited the association between adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD) and risk of cancer, incorporating new data. A total of 117 studies with 3.2 million participants (predominately European and US cohorts) were included in the meta-analysis. Highest adherence to MD was inversely associated with a number of findings, including:
- cancer mortality (RR 0.87)
- all-cause mortality among cancer survivors (RR 0.75)
- breast cancer (RR 0.94)
- colorectal cancer (RR 0.83)
- head and neck cancer (RR 0.56)
- lung cancer (RR 0.84)
- gastric cancer (RR 0.70)
- bladder cancer(RR 0.87)
- hepatocellular cancer (RR 0.64)
MD adherence was not associated with the risk of hematologic, esophageal, pancreatic or prostate cancer.
Utilizing the NutriGrade scoring system, the evidence was ranked as “moderate” for cancer mortality and colorectal cancer risk, whereas as the evidence for other findings was ranked as “low”. One challenge affecting MD studies (including this review) is variability in the definition of the MD eating pattern. Most of the included studies utilized MD definitions from either Trichopolou et al (2003), or Fung et al (2005). In spite of this, a major strength for this review is the large number of subjects and included studies.
Citation:
Morze, J., Danielewicz, A., Przybyłowicz, K. et al. An updated systematic review and meta-analysis on adherence to mediterranean diet and risk of cancer. Eur J Nutr (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-020-02346-6
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