An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but the Mediterranean diet may have the same effect.
A groundbreaking 13-year study has revealed that the diet, rich in fish, olive oil and vegetables, could help cancer patients live longer.
Survivors who started the diet after their treatment ended were 32% less likely to die prematurely.
The specific risk of heart-related death after treatment also decreased by 60%.
Researchers in Italy came to their findings after studying 800 cancer patients in the years after they were given a clean slate. They tracked their eating habits over a 13-year period, starting in the late 2000s.
Because the Mediterranean diet places a heavy emphasis on other healthy foods like fruits, clean proteins and olive oil, researcher Chiara Tonelli believes their high sources of antioxidants play a role in the longevity “edge.”
In addition, the team discovered a link between the causes of heart disease and cancer.
“That different chronic diseases, such as tumors and heart disease, actually share the same molecular mechanisms,” researcher Maria Benedetta Donati said, according to U.S. News & World Report.
This is known in the [medical] “The literature is seen as ‘common ground,’ namely a common ground from which these two groups of conditions emerge,” she added.
Now the team wants to dig deeper into specific foods from the Mediterranean diet to gain more detailed information.
Other, unrelated research has shown that other foods pose a risk for cancer.
There has been a link between several types of meat, including red meat and fried meat, and alcohol, and an increased risk of cancer.