Scientists have been singing the praises of the Mediterranean diet for two decades. Grounded in fresh fruits, non-starchy vegetables, olive oil, legumes, fish, and unrefined grains, along with moderate amounts of cheese, yogurt, and wine, the traditional eating style found in Greece, Southern Italy, and Spain has been linked to weight loss and a reduced risk of chronic disease of every stripe including heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.
With that level of disease fighting power, it’s no surprise that research has linked the diet to living longer. Now a study published in the British Medical Journal reports that it may even make you—or at least your DNA—younger.
In the study led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, the scientists analyzed detailed food questionnaires from 4,676 healthy middle-aged women, assigning them a score from 0 to 9 based on how closely they ate the Mediterranean way. They also performed blood tests to measure the length of their telomeres—the protective coating at the end of our DNA strands, much like the plastic tubing on shoelaces, that prevents our DNA from the fraying and tangling that leads to disease.
These protective ends naturally shrink with age, but a healthy lifestyle—including, as the scientists discovered, a Mediterranean diet—can help slow the shrinkage. The researchers found that just a three-point change on the scale corresponded with 4.5 years of telomere aging—the same difference found between smokers and non-smokers.
Side note: As a cyclist, changing your diet to feast like the Greeks may just help you live forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but those DNA protectors of yours are already longer because you ride your bike. In a study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine, British researchers reported that those who did the most exercise, 199 minutes a week (a little less than 30 minutes a day—a ride to the coffee shop and back) had telomeres that looked 10 years younger compared to their peers who did just 16 minutes of physical activity a week. Pass the olives—let’s go for a ride.