OROGOLD Cosmetics came across a new study which shows that women eating Mediterranean diets might live longer than those who don’t, when looked from the point of view of one marker of aging. According to this study, women who ate Mediterranean foods like nuts, unrefined grains, fruits, vegetables and olive oil and also drank moderate amounts of wine with their meals had long telomeres in their blood cells when compared to women who didn’t. These telomeres are basically DNA sequences which act as the protective caps at the chromosome ends.

The problem with telomeres is that they become shorter every time a cell divides itself. Thus, the length of a telomere is often used to measure the cell’s aging process. This study was published in The BMJ Journal. The researchers of the study mention that things like inflammation and stress might also shorten the telomeres.

One of the main reasons why the Mediterranean diet has proved to be useful is because it is very rich in anti-inflammatory ingredients and antioxidants. Immaculata De Vivo, the senior author of this study and an associate professor at the Harvard Medical School, mentions that this diet might act as a buffer which prevents the telomere from shortening.

De Vivo says that according to the group’s knowledge, their study is the largest population based study which addresses the combination between telomere length in middle-aged women and adherence to a Mediterranean diet. De Vivo also states that the results of the study support the benefits offered by adhering to a Mediterranean diet in terms of promoting longevity and health.

The study involved a total of 4700 women who were participants of the Nurses’ Health Study, a study that follows the health of approximately 120000 nurses working in the US. Researchers measured the length of the telomeres in the blood samples offered by these nurses between the years 1989 – 1990. The researchers also scored the diets of these women on a scale of 0 – 9, by offering a greater indicator to Mediterranean diets. In doing so, they found that women who had the highest scores were the ones with longer telomeres.

Marta Crous-Bou, the co-author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the Canning Division of Network Medicine, says that the findings of this study actually show that although healthy eating is associated with longer telomeres, the strongest association has been observed for women who followed a Mediterranean diet.

The authors also gave insights on the score that women got and how it affected their aging patterns. For every point that a woman’s diet scored, the telomeres corresponded with almost 1.5 years reduced aging. For example, if there is a difference of 3 points between two women, the length of their telomeres would show a difference of about 4.5 years on an average. These ratings could also be compared for other categories such as smoking (4.5 years), less active women (4.4 years) and high phobic anxieties (6 years).

However, further research might be required in order to determine exactly which aspects of the diet played the main role in increasing telomere length.