title: Mediterranean and carbohydrate-restricted diets and mortality among elderly men: a cohort study in Sweden.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Comparative studies on dietary patterns and long-term mortality are sparse.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to examine the relations between 10-y mortality and adherence to the World Health Organization dietary guidelines [Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI)], a Mediterranean-like diet, and a carbohydrate-restricted (CR) diet in elderly Swedish men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dietary habits were determined by 7-d dietary records in a population-based longitudinal study of 924 Swedish men (age: 71 ± 1 y). The HDI score (-1 to 8 points), the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS; 0-8 points), and the CR score (2-20 points) were calculated for each participant. Nonadequate reporters of energy intake were identified (n = 413). Mortality was registered during a median follow-up of 10.2 y. Cox proportional hazards regression, with multivariable adjustments, was used to determine the effects of adherence to each dietary pattern.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two hundred fifteen and 88 subjects died of all-cause and cardiovascular disease, respectively. In all individuals, risk relations to mortality for each SD increment in the scores were observed for only MDS, with an adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.83 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.99). Among adequate dietary reporters (n = 511), adjusted HRs for each SD increment in scores were enhanced for MDS (ie, 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55, 0.92) for all-cause mortality and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.96) for cardiovascular mortality. Corresponding HRs for CR diet score were 1.19 (95% CI: 0.97, 1.45) for all-cause mortality and 1.44 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.02) for cardiovascular mortality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adherence to a Mediterranean-like dietary pattern reduced mortality, whereas adherence to a CR dietary pattern appeared to increase mortality in elderly Swedish men, especially when only adequate dietary reporters were considered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Section of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. per.sjogren@pubcare.uu.se
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sjögren
authors.forename: Wulf
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Warensjö
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Byberg
authors.forename: Inga-Britt
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.forename: Brita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karlström
authors.forename: Tommy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cederholm
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards; D050528:Diet, Carbohydrate-Restricted / Q000401:mortality*; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D002149:Energy Intake; D005399:Fishes; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018579:Patient Selection; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D014675:Vegetables
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004044:Dietary Proteins