Eating a Mediterranean diet could help prevent the risk of developing cancer. A study, led by a team of researchers from Harvard University and reported in the British Journal of Cancer, has shown that adopting even just a few elements of the Mediterraneand diet, rich in fruits and vegetables, may cut the risk of cancer by up to 12 percent. Moreover, the risk could be reduced by 9 percent simply by eating more "unsaturated" fats such as olive oil.

Over an eight-year period, scientists studied the food intake of 26,000 Greek people of various ages, using a ranking system to rate their adherence to the Mediterranean diet. They then compared the three different resulting groups: those whose diet was not similar to the Mediterranean diet, those who followed just a few aspects of the diet and those who followed it most closely.