LONDON:

Anti-oxidant rich Mediterranean diet could cut the risk of serious lung diseases by up to 50 percent, French researchers have said. Common to the diets of these regions are a high consumption of fruits and vegetables, bread, wheat and other cereals, olive oil and fish, making them low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturated fat and dietary fibre. Red wine is also consumed regularly but in moderate quantities

The researchers from the French institute Inserm tracked some 43,000 men for 12 years. The study showed that the higher the compliance with a Mediterranean diet, the lower the risk of developing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

COPD is a lung disease in which the lungs are damaged, making it hard to breathe. In COPD, the tubes that carry air in and out of lungs are partly

obstructed. COPD is expected to become the world’s third leading

cause of death by 2020. The study that appeared in the journal ‘Thorax’ suggests that the anti-oxidants in Mediterranean diet reduce the risk of tissue inflammation, reported online edition of the BBC News.

The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional model inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of some of the countries of the Mediterranean basin, particularly Greece and southern Italy.