Dietary Modification - Mediterranean Diet

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) with incidence of advanced AMD (the symptomatic form of AMD) in two European population-based prospective cohorts.

DESIGN: Prospective cohorts: the Rotterdam Study I (RS-I) and the Alienor Study.

PARTICIPANTS: 4 446 participants aged≥55 years from RS-I (The Netherlands) and 550 French adults aged 73 years or older from Alienor Study with complete ophthalmologic and dietary data were included in the present study.

METHODS: Examinations were performed approximately every 5 years over a 21-year period (1990 to 2011) in RS-I and every 2 years over a 4-year period (2006 to 2012) in Alienor Study. Adherence to the MeDi was evaluated using a 9 component score based on intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, cereals, fish, meat, dairy products, alcohol and the monounsaturated-to-saturated fatty acids ratio. Associations of incidence of AMD with MeDi were estimated using multivariate Cox proportional Hazard models.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Incidence of advanced AMD based on retinal fundus photographs.

RESULTS: Among the 4 996 included participants, 155 developed advanced incident AMD (117 from RS-I and 38 from Alienor Study). The mean follow-up time was 9.9 years (range 0.6 to 21.7) in RS-I and 4.1 years (range 2.5 to 5.0) in Alienor Study. Pooling data for both RS-I and Alienor study, participants with a high (6-9) MeDi score had a significantly reduced risk for incident advanced AMD compared to participants with a low (0-3) MeDi score in the fully-adjusted Cox model (HR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.37-0.95], p for trend=0.04).

CONCLUSION: Pooling data from RS-I and Alienor, higher adherence to the MeDi was associated with a 41% reduced risk of incident advanced AMD. These findings support the role of a diet rich in healthful nutrient-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish in the prevention of AMD.