October 13/Uppsala, Sweden/Aging & Elder Health Week -- Current study results from the report, "Mediterranean and Carbohydrate-restricted Diets and Mortality Among Elderly Men: A Cohort Study in Sweden," have been published. "Comparative studies on dietary patterns and long-term mortality are sparse. The objective was to examine the relations between 10-year mortality and adherence to the World Health Organization dietary guidelines [Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI)], a Mediterranean-like diet, and a carbohydrate-restricted (CR) diet in elderly Swedish men," scientists writing in the The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition report.

"Dietary habits were determined by seven-day dietary records in a population-based longitudinal study of 924 Swedish men (age: 71 ± 1 year). The HDI score (-1 to 8 points), the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS; 0-8 points), and the CR score (2-20 points) were calculated for each participant. Nonadequate reporters of energy intake were identified (n=413). Mortality was registered during a median follow-up of 10.2 years. Cox proportional hazards regression, with multivariable adjustments, was used to determine the effects of adherence to each dietary pattern. Two hundred fifteen and 88 subjects died of all-cause and cardiovascular disease, respectively. In all individuals, risk relations to mortality for each SD increment in the scores were observed for only MDS, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.99). Among adequate dietary reporters (n=511), adjusted HRs for each SD increment in scores were enhanced for MDS (i.e., 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.92) for all-cause mortality and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.96) for cardiovascular mortality. Corresponding HRs for CR diet score were 1.19 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.45) for all-cause mortality and 1.44 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.02) for cardiovascular mortality," wrote P. Sjogren and colleagues, Uppsala University.

The researchers concluded, "Adherence to a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern reduced mortality, whereas adherence to a CR dietary pattern appeared to increase mortality in elderly Swedish men, especially when only adequate dietary reporters were considered."

Sjogren and colleagues published their study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ("Mediterranean and Carbohydrate-restricted Diets and Mortality Among Elderly Men: A Cohort Study in Sweden," The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010;92(4):967-74).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting P. Sjogren, Section of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Dept. of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

From the October 18, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition