Correlation of the adherence to the Mediterranean diet with health and disease

During the last decade, scientific interest has notably focused on the impact of the Mediterranean diet on health and disease. As a result, several indices  assessing the adherence to this pattern have been published and numerous studies have associated these indices with the risk for several diseases. According to very recent meta-analyses of prospective cohorts, higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet reduces all-cause mortality, mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Although still limited, there are also data linking adoption of the Mediterranean diet with lower prevalence of osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, depression and asthma both in  children and in adults. All the above mentioned properties of the Mediterranean diet are mainly attributed to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant  properties and hence the diseases that mainly affects are those due to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress.