The Mediterranean diet and menopausal health: An EMAS position statement

Adequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D are recommended in most osteoporosis guidelines and there is growing interest on the role of protein intake in bone accrual during childhood and adolescence and skeletal preservation in the post reproductive years

Antonio Cano; Skye Marshall; Irene Zolfaroli; Johannes Bitzer; Iuliana Ceausu; Peter Chedraui; Fatih Durmusoglu; Risto Erkkola; Dimitrios G. Goulis; Angelica Lindén Hirschberg; Ludwig Kiesel; Patrice Lopes; Amos Pines; Mick van Trotsenburg; Irene Lambrinoudaki; Margaret Rees

2020

Scholarcy highlights

  • 985 million women are aged 50 and over, leading to increasing concerns about chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, dementia, and cognitive decline, which can adversely affect quality of life and independent living
  • Systematic reviews and metaanalyses have found mean relative risks of cardiovascular disease around 0.70 and 0.80 in comparisons of women following the Mediterranean diet and those not. Synthesizing these findings, a recent meta-analysis of observational studies found that high adherence to the MedDiet by women reduced their relative risk of coronary heart disease and acute myocardial infarction by 30% and of stroke by 17%
  • Adequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D are recommended in most osteoporosis guidelines and there is growing interest on the role of protein intake in bone accrual during childhood and adolescence and skeletal preservation in the post reproductive years
  • The PREDIMED randomized trial reported that after 4.8 years, the MedDiet supplemented with olive oil significantly decreased the risk of breast cancer by 69%, but no statistically significant effect was found for the MedDiet supplemented with nuts
  • The Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Randomized Trial found that adoption of a low-fat diet with increased vegetable, fruit, and grain intake may reduce the risk of death as a result of breast cancer in postmenopausal women
  • The subgroup analysis of women was based only on two of the 14 included studies, and the finding for combined sexes showed a substantial reduction of 19%
  • A systematic review and meta-analysis in 2019 involving 29 prospective studies with 1,676,901 participants, 221,603 of whom died in the study period, found that the risk of all-cause mortality linearly decreased with increase in adherence to a MedDiet
  • Contributors Antonio Cano, Skye Marshall, Irene Zolfaroli, and Margaret Rees prepared the initial draft, which was circulated to all other named authors for comments and approval; production was coordinated by Irene Lambrinoudaki and Margaret Rees

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