Ten Recommendations for the Next Clinical Trial of the Mediterranean Diet in Inflamm-Aging: Results & Insights from a Scoping Review.
Abstract
Diet is a key modifiable risk factor in many chronic diseases, including age-related diseases. The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) is an extensively studied dietary pattern which has been proposed as a lifestyle intervention to promote healthy aging in the general population, due to its numerous health benefits. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have attempted to explore the mechanism(s) by which the MedDiet exerts its beneficial effects on aging. One proposed mechanism is that the MedDiet helps to slow down a process called 'inflamm-aging', a type of chronic, low-grade inflammation which contributes to aging. To explore the evidence supporting this hypothesized mechanism, we conducted a scoping review of existing RCTs which used a MedDiet intervention and assessed at least one molecular outcome of potential relevance to inflamm-aging. We identified 14 papers representing 12 unique RCTs. Based on our findings, we present 10 recommendations for the next clinical trial of the MedDiet in inflamm-aging.
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Research summary
The paper discusses the Mediterranean diet as a potential intervention for inflamm-aging, which is a process associated with aging. While it addresses a dietary approach to mitigate a specific aspect of aging, it does not fundamentally tackle the root causes of aging itself. The recommendations for future clinical trials provide some value, but the overall contribution is relatively modest and primarily incremental rather than transformative.
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