Trichopoulou A, Lagiou P, Kuper H, Trichopoulos D
Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Athens Medical School, Greece.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000 Sep;9(9):869-73.
The incidence of cancer overall in Mediterranean countries is lower than in Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This is mostly accounted for by the lower incidence among Mediterranean countries of cancer of the large bowel, breast, endometrium, and prostate. These forms of cancer have been linked to dietary factors, particularly low consumption of vegetables and fruit, and to a certain extent, high consumption of meat. The traditional Mediterranean diet is characterized by high consumption of foods of plant origin, relatively low consumption of red meat, and high consumption of olive oil, which in several studies has been reported to be more beneficial against cancer than other forms of added lipids. By taking into account the established or presumed nutritional causation of major forms of cancer and the composition of the traditional Mediterranean diet, estimates can be derived concerning the fraction of cancer occurrence in highly developed Western countries that could be attributed to their diets in comparison with the healthy traditional Mediterranean diet. Although estimates can only be crude, it can be calculated that up to 25% of the incidence of colorectal cancer, approximately 15% of the incidence of breast cancer, and approximately 10% of the incidence of prostate, pancreas, and endometrial cancer could be prevented if the populations of highly developed Western countries could shift to the traditional healthy Mediterranean diet.
地中海国家的总体癌症发病率低于斯堪的纳维亚国家、英国和美国。这主要是因为地中海国家中结直肠癌、乳腺癌、子宫内膜癌和前列腺癌的发病率较低。这些癌症形式与饮食因素有关，特别是蔬菜和水果摄入量低，以及在一定程度上肉类摄入量高。传统的地中海饮食特点是植物性食物摄入量高、红肉摄入量相对低以及橄榄油摄入量高，在几项研究中，橄榄油被报道比其他形式的添加脂质对癌症更有益。考虑到主要癌症形式已确定的或推测的营养成因以及传统地中海饮食的组成，可以得出关于高度发达的西方国家中与健康的传统地中海饮食相比可归因于其饮食的癌症发生比例的估计。虽然估计只能是粗略的，但可以计算出，如果高度发达的西方国家的人口转向传统的健康地中海饮食，那么结直肠癌发病率的25%、乳腺癌发病率的约15%以及前列腺癌、胰腺癌和子宫内膜癌发病率的约10%可以得到预防。
