THE CONCEPT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET.

Mediterranean diet was first introduced and studied by the American physiologist Ancel Keys.

The Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality in observational studies. The Mediterranean diet may help with weight loss in obese people.

Mediterranean diet means a nutritional model inspired by the typical diet of the populations of southern Italy, Greece and Spain. The choice of this geographical area and this historical period is based on some scientific and epidemiological evidence.

In fact, the Countries bordering the Mediterranean basin traditionally share the availability of the same foods, derived from agriculture, pastoralism and fishing. Furthermore, some studies, widely accepted by the scientific community, have shown that in these geographical areas, in the early sixties, life expectancy was among the highest in the world; on the contrary, the incidence of diseases such as ischemic heart disease, some tumors and other chronic diseases related to diet was among the lowest in the world; this occurred despite the high smoking habit, the low socio-economic level and the scarcity of health care in those places and in that historical context.