Research by Dr Dimitrios Trichopoulos, professor of cancer prevention and epidemiology at Harvard University into the lifestyle habits of over 26,000 Greek men and women over an eight year period, conducted as a part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) and nutrition, has found that adopting elements of the Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of cancer significantly. EPIC is a unique ongoing study looking at dietary habits and other biological and lifestyle characteristics of more than half a million people in Europe before a diagnosis of cancer and other chronic diseases.

In the largest study in a Mediterranean population to look at cancer risk in relation to diet, researchers monitored the detailed dietary records of the participants. The researchers collected information from interviewer-administered questionnaires and used a 9-point scale to describe how well a participant’s diet adhered to the traditional Mediterranean pattern. Food groups were classified as good and protective against cancer or bad and increasing cancer risk based on the latest research. Each person was given a score of one if they consumed lots of “good” foods or had a low consumption of “bad” foods. They scored zero for a high consumption of “bad” foods or low consumption of “good” foods.

This latest study from scientists at Harvard University is one of the largest to date which examines the potential impact on cancer of the various parts of this diet. The study monitored the prevalence of all types of cancer from stomach and bowel to liver, cervix and brain tumours in both men and women, and took into account other risk factors, such as smoking and lifestyle.

Food from nine food groups were measured - monosaturated and saturated fats, fruits, vegetables, legumes such as peas and lentils, cereals such as wholegrain bread and pasta, meat, dairy food, fish and alcohol.

The researchers found that people who followed more closely a traditional Mediterranean diet had a lower incidence of cancer, including a 9% reduction in risk achieved by eating more “unsaturated” fats such as olive oil.

Eating less red meat, and more peas, beans and lentils, the risk of cancer was reduced by 12%. Importantly lower risk wasn’t only seen by completely adopting the traditional Mediterranean diet but closer conformity to it also reduced the participants’ cancer risk. And the more changes made the bigger the effect.

Source: Conformity to traditional Mediterranean diet and cancer incidence: the Greek EPIC cohort. British Journal of Cancer. 2008. 99(1).