Mediterranean Diet and cancer risk: an open issue |
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Authors: | Annunziata D’Alessandro Giovanni De Pergola Franco Silvestris |
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Affiliation: | 1. General Medicine ASL BA/4, Bari, Italy;2. Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, Section of Internal Medicine and Oncology, School of Medicine, Policlinico, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy |
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Abstract: | The traditional Mediterranean Diet of the early 1960s meets the characteristics of an anticancer diet defined by the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AIRC). A diet rich of whole grains, pulses, vegetables and fruits, limited in high-calorie foods (foods high in sugar or fat), red meat and foods high in salt, without sugary drinks and processed meat is recommended by the WCRF/AIRC experts to reduce the risk of cancer. The aim of this review was to examine whether Mediterranean Diet is protective or not against cancer risk. Three meta-analyses of cohort studies reported that a high adherence to the Mediterranean Diet significantly reduces the risk of cancer incidence and/or mortality. Nevertheless, the Mediterranean dietary pattern defined in the studies’ part of the meta-analyses has qualitative and/or quantitative differences compared to the Mediterranean Diet of the early 1960s. Therefore, the protective role of the Mediterranean Diet against cancer has not definitely been established. In epidemiological studies, a universal definition of the Mediterranean Diet, possibly the traditional Mediterranean Diet of the early 1960s, could be useful to understand the role of this dietary pattern in cancer prevention. |
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Keywords: | Cancer Mediterranean Diet prevention |
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