A new analysis suggests yet another potential health benefit of the Mediterranean diet. In the Nurses’ Health Study, greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with greater telomere length, a biomarker of aging.
“The health benefits of greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet — reduction of overall mortality, increased longevity and reduced incidence of chronic diseases, especially major cardiovascular diseases — have been consistently demonstrated,” Immaculata De Vivo, MPH, PhD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, told Medscape Medical News.