He added that many young adults, including Harvard students, do not realize the consequences of their dietary choices.
"You should be aware of the illusion of immortality," Trichopoulos said.
"Pay consideration to what happens to old people," warned Trichopoulos. "And with luck, you [too] may live to an old age!"
Trichopoulos received his master's degree from Harvard in 1968. After further studies at Oxford, he served as director of preventive medicine at the Medical School of Athens for 15 years, before joining SPH in 1989 as a professor of epidemiology.
A Diet to Live By
Researchers at the School of Public Health have determined that adhering to any one of the following eight Mediterranean dietary practices corresponds to an average 17 percent decrease in mortality rate.
High consumption levels of:
1) Legumes
2) Fruits
3) Other vegetables
4) Cereals
Low consumption levels of:
5) Dairy products
6) Most products
7) High proportion of monounsaturated fat intake (such as olive oil) relative to saturated fat intake
8) Moderate alcohol consumption
* Overall, subjects adhering to six of the eight components tended to have half the rate of dying as subjects who followed only two.