Northern Mediterranean Diet May Help You Live Longer

Most people have heard of the Mediterranean diet and its many health benefits, but there is another European diet plan that can also help you live longer. This is called the Scandinavian diet and is based on traditional dishes from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. It has many similarities to the Mediterranean diet, but is essentially an option for colder climates, and is sometimes referred to as the "northern Mediterranean diet." Dishes are mainly prepared on a plant-based basis and tend to focus on traditional products of the northern culture, such as oily fish and root vegetables: this means that you should prefer rapeseed oil over olive, oats and rye - wheat and rice, pears and apples - oranges and bananas.

According to a hypothetical analysis by researchers in Denmark, strict adherence to a healthy Nordic diet can significantly reduce the risk of death from any cause within 24 years. A previously systematic review found that people whose eating habits were more in line with the Nordic diet had lower risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer compared to those on a lower diet. The findings also partially support the results of a recent randomized controlled trial in adult Swedes with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. In this experiment, some participants replaced white bread and pasta with oatmeal and rye bread, used canola oil instead of butter and ate locally produced foods such as apples, berries and cabbage, as well as oily fish such as salmon. Those who followed this healthy Nordic diet outperformed the Nordic dietary guidelines of 2012 to reduce liver fat, liver enzyme counts, body weight, blood glucose levels and lipid scores.

“A healthy Nordic diet yielded the best results in study participants with diabetes; in 2025, they had a reduction in liver fat by just over 20 percent, and blood sugar control improved,” said study author Ulf Ricerus. More than half of the participants also experienced remission of fatty liver disease. This makes these findings equally important for both people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and people with type 2 diabetes.

Compared to the Mediterranean diet, there is far less research on the long-term health effects of the Nordic diet, and unfortunately, research takes time.

Interestingly, the new study found no clear reduction in serious liver effects when following a healthy Nordic diet compared to the Nordic Health Recommendations of 2023, but it found a significant difference in estimates of all-cause mortality. Compared to general health guidelines, the Nordic diet resulted in a 4% lower risk of death from any cause over the next 24 years, and compared with no diet therapy, it resulted in a 6% lower risk of all-cause mortality.