Abstract
Overall cancer incidence has been observed to be lower in Mediterranean countries compared to that in Northern countries, such as the UK, and the USA. There is increasing evidence that adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern correlates with reduced risk of several cancer types and cancer mortality. In addition, specific aspects of the Mediterranean diet, such as high consumption of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and low processed meat intake, are inversely associated with risk of tumor pathogenesis at different cancer sites. The purpose of this review is to summarize the available evidence regarding the association between the Mediterranean diet and cancer risk from clinical trials, prospective cohort studies, and case–control studies. Furthermore, we focused on the different definitions of a Mediterranean diet in an attempt to assess their efficiency. Observational studies provide new evidence suggesting that high adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced risk of overall cancer mortality as well as a reduced risk of incidence of several cancer types (especially cancers of the colorectum, aerodigestive tract, breast, stomach, pancreas, prostate, liver, and head and neck).
Highlights
In 2013, the number of deaths worldwide and throughout all age groups reached nearly 55 million, with 70 % of them caused by non-communicable diseases, including 15 % caused by cancer [1]
Curr Nutr Rep (2016) 5:9–17 and 9 case–control studies) published in the interim brief period [11]. In both meta-analyses, adherence to the highest category of MD was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of overall cancer mortality/incidence as well as the incidence of several cancer types
Overall risk of cancer mortality was evaluated in 11 cohort studies (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), Nurses’ Health Study, Health Professionals Follow-up Study, Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, Multiethnic Cohort, HALE and SENECA study, SUN-cohort, Seven Countries Study, National Institutes of Health American Association of Retired Persons (NIH-AARP), Västerbotten Intervention Program-cohort, Swiss National Research Program 1A, MONICA) [20, 33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42]
Summary
In 2013, the number of deaths worldwide and throughout all age groups reached nearly 55 million, with 70 % of them caused by non-communicable diseases, including 15 % caused by cancer [1]. In 2014, we published a meta-analysis of observational studies investigating the effects of conformity with an MD on overall cancer risk (incidence and mortality) and risk of development of different types of cancer [10]. Curr Nutr Rep (2016) 5:9–17 and 9 case–control studies) published in the interim brief period [11] In both meta-analyses, adherence to the highest category of MD was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of overall cancer mortality/incidence as well as the incidence of several cancer types (especially cancers of the colorectum, aerodigestive tract, breast, stomach, pancreas, prostate, liver, and head and neck). The objective of the current review was to summarize the available evidence on Mediterranean diet and cancer risk (with respect to incidence, survival, and mortality) as well as to report on current results and futures directions. We provide an overview of the most common ways to define a Mediterranean diet
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