A new study shows evidence for yet another benefit of the Mediterranean diet, as it indicates that eating mostly fruit, vegetables, beans, fish, olive oil and low amounts of dairy can reduce the risk of developing mouth cancer.
Published in the British Journal of Cancer, the study looked at data from 1997 to 2009, and rated participants on adherence to a Mediterranean diet. They checked this against cases of mouth cancer, of which there were 768 cases that developed in the people they collected data on.
Poor diet is one of the factors that can lead to mouth cancer, and a Mediterranean diet is widely thought to be one of the healthiest we can follow. It has been found to reduce the risks of becoming obese and therefore of reducing the chances of developing diabetes.
Dr Nigel Carter, OBE, chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said that “Italy has some of the lowest recorded cases of mouth cancer in Europe, and this study is a perfect explanation of why that is.
“It’s really interesting to note just how the risk for mouth cancer drops according to how thorough the med diet is. The absence of processed foods is a key element to this. Some experts believe poor diet accounts for more than half of mouth cancer cases in the UK, and the worst thing is it’s really simple to develop a diet that can keep you out of harm’s way.”