Mediterranean diet could trim down the risk of gastric cancer by 33 percent

The first comprehensive study that analyzes the effects of the Mediterranean diet on the body maintains that this eating pattern reduces by 33 percent the risk of gastric tumors, one of the cancers with the poorest prognoses and the least effective treatments available right now.

The importance of this research is that, up to date, there have been identified beneficial effects of some specific foods, like fruits, vegetables or vitamin C, but had not revealed the importance of the Mediterranean diet as a whole. "The influence of each food can be weak, but the simultaneous effect of components of the Mediterranean diet confers a significant protection against gastric cancer," say the authors.

Participants in the study received a score between 0 and 18, as they did follow the patterns of the Mediterranean diet (high consumption of fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, fish and olive oil, moderate alcohol consumption, and low consumption of milk and meat).

After nine years of monitoring studies were found in general 449 people with gastric cancer. Thanks to the previously assigned score was found that those with greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet were 33 percent less likely to develop such tumors versus those who had a lower score.

Gastric tumors are the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with more than one million deaths annually. In Spain, however, is the fifth most common cancer, with 8,200 new cases each year. The disease has a poor prognosis as it is often diagnosed in advanced stages and has no effective treatment, demonstrating that survival after five years does not exceed 23 percent of cases.