Cancer and Mediterranean dietary traditions

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 form s of cancer have been linked to dietary factors, particularly low consumpti on of vegetables and fruit, and to a certain extent, high consumption of me at. 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 fo rms of cancer and the composition of the traditional Mediterranean diet, es timates can be derived concerning the fraction of cancer occurrence in high ly developed Western countries that could be attributed to their diets in c omparison with the healthy traditional Mediterranean diet. Although estimat es can only be crude, it can be calculated that up to 25% of the incidence of colorectal cancer, similar to 15% of the incidence of breast cancer, and similar to 10% of the incidence of prostate, pancreas, and endometrial can cer could be prevented if the populations of highly developed Western count ries could shift to the traditional healthy Mediterranean diet.