MediterrAsian.com. Q & A

The weight of scientific evidence certainly points this way. The Lyon Diet Heart Study, for example, found that out of two groups of heart attack survivors who were studied for two years, those who followed a Mediterranean-style diet had a 70 percent lower rate of death compared to those who followed a low fat diet.

Statistics also show that people who live in Asia and the Mediterranean and follow traditional practices are the longest-lived peoples on earth, yet when they adopt Western dietary and lifestyle practices their life expectancy drops substantially. One study showed that when people from the Japanese Island of Okinawa migrated and adopted a Western diet and lifestyle, their life expectancy dropped by 17 years.

There's also plenty of anecdotal evidence that this way of living can help you live longer. Professor Ancel Keys is a perfect example. He was so impressed by what he saw during the Seven Countries Study that he decided to change his diet and eat mainly Mediterranean and Asian-style food. In fact, Professor Keys embraced this way of life so fully that for more than 30 years he divided his time between two homes—one in Minnesota and one in a small southern Italian town 40 miles from Naples. Ancel Keys died peacefully of old age in November 2004, two months before his 101st birthday.