Latest Scientific News
Updated information about scientific approaches and research field.
Thursday, 27 September 2018 11:45
The Mediterranean diet contributes to increase life expectancy
The results of a recent publication indicate that the Mediterranean diet can significantly reduce the mortality in elderly individuals. During a follow up of eight years, Italian researchers of the Moli Sani Study analysed the relationship between the traditional Mediterranean diet and mortality among 5000 participants above 65 years old. In addition, they also carried out a meta-analysis of other epidemiological studies published in several countries with a total of 12,000 participants. The results clearly show that a traditional Mediterranean…
Wednesday, 05 September 2018 13:14
Life is a risky affair wine/alcoholic beverages and disease: is a risk-free consumption possible?
A large study in the renowned journal The Lancet last week caused uncertainty among all wine drinkers. According to the publication, even very moderate drinking is worse than not drinking at all. This conclusion seems to contradict a large body of other studies which have found that moderate drinking is associated with a healthier and longer life expectancy and lower cardiovascular events. Summary: A recent study[1] - published in the Lancet- examining the consumption of alcoholic beverages and disease risk…
Monday, 30 July 2018 08:25
Five lifestyle factors for a longer life: moderate wine consumption is one of them
Which measurable influence does a healthy lifestyle have of American adults? And which factors are part of a healthy lifestyle? These are the questions that Harvard researchers examined by using the enormous amount of data about the associations between different lifestyle factors and causes of mortality from two big observational studies that have already been running for the last three decades: 800,000 participants in the Nurses’ Health Study and 45,000 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up study. The data from…
Wednesday, 09 May 2018 15:51
Media and scientific evidence, what about moderation?
In April, a meta-analysis “Risk thresholds for alcohol consumption: combined analysis of individual-participant data for 599 912 current drinkers in 83 prospective studies” with more than 100 authors, among them many renowned scientists, was published in the well-known journal The Lancet. The Lancet issued a press release to communicate the results of the study: “Alcohol limits in many countries should be lowered, evidence suggests” Examining the original data more carefully, including those in the supplementary appendix of the publication, the…
Wednesday, 13 December 2017 12:14
Heavy drinking might increase atherosclerosis risk
In this community-based study of middle-aged white men, heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages was significantly associated with a higher aortic calcification. Light to moderate drinking was not related to aortic calcification. Thus, heavy alcohol consumption may be an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. Although a J-shaped association has been very well established between light to moderate alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease, it is not clear whether consuming alcoholic beverages has an impact on atherosclerosis. To investigate the relationship between…