Relationship Between Mediterranean Diet, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Meningiomas: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background/aim: The Mediterranean diet may be deemed as the best combination of nutrients to play a protective role against cancer. Previous studies have demonstrated how a healthy lifestyle, and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet might affect the onset of most common cancers, focusing less on their relationship with central nervous system (CNS) tumoral pathologies, especially benign ones, such as meningiomas.

Patients and methods: This was a retrospective multicenter study, involving 52 patients who underwent meningioma resection and a group of 100 subjects not affected by brain tumors. This preliminary study aimed to investigate whether the non-adherence to a dietary pattern, such as the Mediterranean diet, and pre-existing cardiovascular risk factors can affect the onset of cranial meningiomas.

Results: Patients affected by meningioma had a significantly lower mean Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), and a similar distribution of the main cardiovascular risk factors.

Conclusion: A larger patient cohort is required to corroborate our findings. However, these promising results open up a new avenue for further exploration of the role of the Mediterranean diet in the development of meningiomas.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; cardiovascular disease; lifestyle; meningioma.