IS DIET AN INDEPENDENT RISK FACTOR FOR MORTALITY - 20 YEAR MORTALITY IN THE ITALIAN RURAL COHORTS OF THE 7 COUNTRIES STUDY

The relation of diet to mortality is examined using the data of the It alian rural cohorts of the Seven Countries Study, a prospective invest igation of factors related to cardiovascular disease. The present anal ysis includes 1536 men aged 45-64 years, whose dietary habits and food consumption, including alcoholic beverages, were measured in 1965. Of the 1536, 668 (43.5%) died during a follow-up period of 20 years. Lar ge differences in survival probabilities were observed for different d ietary patterns (i.e. for different intakes of energy and nutrients). The dietary pattern that corresponded to the lowest mortality rate (27 % after 20 years) was: more than 2800 kcal/d (11.7 MJ/d), with more th an 41% of the calories coming from carbohydrates, more than 9% from pr oteins, between 16% and 23% from unsaturated lipids, and between 13% a nd 19% from alcohol. As the number of disagreements from the previous conditions increases, the mortality rate increases to reach 69% in 20 years in the worst case. Differences in mortality persisted after adju stment for confounders and some major established mortality fisk facto rs.