Nutrients. 2022 Feb; 14(4): 779. Published online 2022 Feb 12. doi: 10.3390/nu14040779 PMCID: PMC8879768 PMID: 35215429
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8879768/
Abstract
Background: The relationship between modifiable risk factors, such as diet and lifestyle, and glaucoma remains controversial. We analyse the effect of the Mediterranean lifestyle (ML) on glaucoma incidence in the “Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra” (SUN) Project. Methods: The SUN Healthy Lifestyle Score (SHLS) includes 10 healthy habits: never having smoked, moderate to high physical activity, Mediterranean diet adherence, moderate alcohol consumption, low television exposure, no binge drinking, short afternoon napping, meeting up with friends, working at least 40 h/wk, and low body mass index. The information was collected biennially through self-reported questionnaires. The relationship between new glaucoma cases and the SHLS was assessed by Cox regression using hazard ratios. Crude, multi-adjusted, and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: During a median of 12 years of follow-up, 261 (1.42%) new cases of glaucoma were identified among 18,420 participants. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the healthiest SHLS category showed a significantly reduced risk of glaucoma compared to those in the lowest SHLS category (adjusted HR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.28–0.93). For each point added to the SHLS, the risk of glaucoma relatively dropped 5%. Conclusions: Higher adherence to a ML, measured by the SHLS, was significantly associated with a lower risk of developing glaucoma. Based on our study, the ML is a protective factor for glaucoma incidence.
Keywords: mediterranean diet, mediterranean lifestyle, glaucoma, cohort
The full text is freely available at the link above. The researchers called their healthy lifestyle the "Mediterranean lifestyle." It was rated on a ten point scale, where one point was given to each participant for each of these 10 habits:
The rating scale ranged between 0 points (worst lifestyle) and 10 points (best lifestyle).