The Mediterranean Diet is a powerful ally for health even after a cancer diagnosis. This is the key result of an Italian study carried out as part of the UMBERTO Project, conducted by the Joint Research Platform Umberto Veronesi Foundation - Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of the I.R.
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Neuromed of Pozzilli, in collaboration with the LUM "Giuseppe Degennaro" University of Casamassima (BA). According to this research, people diagnosed with any type of tumor, who had a high adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in the year preceding their enrollment into the study, live longer and have a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality, compared to those with lower adherence to this diet. The study, published in JACC CardioOncology , examined 800 Italian adults, both men and women, who had already been diagnosed with cancer at the time of enrollment in the Moli-sani Study, between 2005 and 2010.
Participants were followed for over 13 years, and detailed information on their food consumption during the year before enrollment was available for all of them. "The beneficial role of the Mediterranean Diet in primary prevention of some tumors is well known in the literature – says Marialaura Bonaccio, first author of the study and Co-Principal Investigator of the Joint Research Platform at the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of the IRCCS Neuromed - However, little is known about the potential benefits that this dietary model can have for those who have already receive.
