By Mike Bassett
Source Medpagetoday
Long-term cancer survivors tended to live longer if they consumed a Mediterranean diet, analysis of an Italian cohort study found.
With a follow-up of almost 13 years, survivors with high adherence to the diet had a 32% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those with poor adherence (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.46-0.99), reported Marialaura Bonaccio, PhD, of the IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo in Pozzilli, Italy, and colleagues.
“Our findings suggest maintaining or adopting a traditional [Mediterranean diet] even after a cancer diagnosis may be beneficial and, importantly, motivate additional science regarding the development of dietary recommendations specifically targeted for cancer survivors,” Bonaccio and colleagues wrote in JACC: CardioOncologyopens in a new tab or window.
High adherence to the diet — which has an emphasis on vegetable, fruit, fish, olive oil, and nut intake — was also associated with lower cardiovascular mortality compared with poor adherence (HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.19-0.93). This finding is particularly relevant, according to the researchers, as cancer patients are considered to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease because of shared modifiable risk factors and, potentially, molecular mechanisms of disease.
Read more https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/othercancers/110982