{"entity":{"id":"dietary-pattern-scores","kind":"term","name":"Dietary pattern scores (Mediterranean, HEI, AHEI, DASH, WCRF/AICR)","aka":["Diet quality index","Healthy Eating Index","MedDiet score"],"tldr":"Scores that grade a whole diet against a healthy pattern instead of counting single foods. They predict cancer risk and survival better than any individual nutrient.","summary":"The Mediterranean diet score, Healthy Eating Index, Alternative Healthy Eating Index, DASH and the WCRF/AICR recommendation adherence score each combine 8-15 components. High versus low adherence is associated with 10-25% lower total cancer incidence and mortality in cohorts, most consistently for colorectal cancer. Pattern scores reduce but do not eliminate confounding; they are also the practical basis for dietary counselling because people eat meals, not nutrients.","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet","links":[{"label":"World Cancer Research Fund: diet, activity and cancer (Third Expert Report)","url":"https://www.wcrf.org/diet-activity-and-cancer/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["mediterranean-plant-forward-diet","red-processed-meat-reduction","coffee-intake-cancer"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["ultra-processed-food","energy-balance"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-prevention-adoption"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Nutrition & lifestyle"},"route":"/terms/dietary-pattern-scores/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"coffee-intake-cancer","kind":"technology","name":"Coffee and tea intake","route":"/technologies/coffee-intake-cancer/"},{"id":"mediterranean-plant-forward-diet","kind":"technology","name":"Mediterranean and plant-forward dietary patterns","route":"/technologies/mediterranean-plant-forward-diet/"},{"id":"red-processed-meat-reduction","kind":"technology","name":"Red and processed meat reduction","route":"/technologies/red-processed-meat-reduction/"},{"id":"soy-breast-cancer","kind":"technology","name":"Soy foods and breast cancer","route":"/technologies/soy-breast-cancer/"}],"term":[{"id":"energy-balance","kind":"term","name":"Energy balance","route":"/terms/energy-balance/"},{"id":"ultra-processed-food","kind":"term","name":"Ultra-processed food (NOVA group 4)","route":"/terms/ultra-processed-food/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-prevention-adoption","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Prevention we already have is not deployed","route":"/bottlenecks/b-prevention-adoption/"}],"trial":[{"id":"whel","kind":"trial","name":"WHEL (Women's Healthy Eating and Living)","route":"/trials/whel/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-nl-diet-covariates-io-trials","kind":"idea","name":"Capture diet, fibre and antibiotic exposure in every immunotherapy pivotal trial","route":"/ideas/idea-nl-diet-covariates-io-trials/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Diet, exercise and lifestyle roadmap: causes established → interventions that disappointed → exercise proven as treatment","route":"/roadmaps/nutrition-lifestyle-roadmap/"}]}}