Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is the way of eating based on the traditional cuisine of the Mediterranean basin. This differentiates it from Mediterranean gastronomy, which occurs naturally in Mediterranean countries and is inherent in them; When speaking of the "Mediterranean diet", reference is made to the conscious adoption of eating patterns (diet) typical of the Mediterranean, but which can occur anywhere in the world and by anyone.
The main characteristics of this diet are a high consumption of plant products (fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts), bread and other cereals (wheat being an optional food), olive oil as the main fat, vinegar and the consumption of wine in moderate amounts.
History
The first scientific references to a Mediterranean diet date from 1948, when the epidemiologist Leland G. Allbaugh studied the way of life of the inhabitants of the island of Crete and, among other aspects, compared their diet with that of Greece and the United States. For his part, the American physiologist Ancel Keys, who led a study on coronary heart disease, blood cholesterol and lifestyle in seven countries (Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, the Netherlands, Finland, the USA and Japan) after World War II, contributed to its dissemination. Keys and his colleagues noted that the incidence of coronary heart disease was lower in rural areas of southern Europe and Japan. They suspected there was a protective factor in the lifestyle, which they labeled the "Mediterranean way" (Mediterranean way). They described this lifestyle as "very physically active (due to the scarce mechanization of agriculture), frugal, and with a predominant intake of plant products and reduced products of animal origin". The subsequent dissemination of his results assimilated the concept of "Mediterranean style" with that of "Mediterranean diet".
Properties
The healthy properties attributed to it are based on the finding that, although more fat is consumed in Mediterranean countries than in the United States, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases is much lower. The causes of such properties seem being in the greatest consumption of products rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, present in olive oil (which reduces the level of cholesterol in the blood). It is also attributed to the consumption of fish, especially oily fish, rich in fatty acids. omega 3 and, finally, moderate consumption of red wine (for its anthocyanins and resveratrol). Wine is also associated with another cardioprotective effect called the French paradox.
Stilbene polyphenols, found in grape skins and concentrated in red wine, and lignans, present in olives, virgin olive oil, flax seeds, sesame seeds, and whole grains are associated with protective effects against mortality.
It appears that the Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of MCI both during aging and during the transition from dementia or MCI to Alzheimer's disease.
Following a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower rate of abdominal obesity, which predicts the risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart attack or stroke. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of diabetes by 30% type 2, without the need to reduce caloric intake, weight or physical exercise. It also improves embryonic and fetal development, and reduces disovulatory and infertility problems.
Studies on the Mediterranean diet
In a study conducted in 2012 in a sample of 11,015 university students, it was found that people who regularly followed a Mediterranean diet obtained better scores on the "Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) scale&# 3. 4; related to quality of life, which includes both physical and mental health variables.
However, the worldwide spread of the Mediterranean diet is one of the main factors contributing to the increasing number of cases of celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and other gluten-related disorders, due to the high consumption of food that contain gluten.
Nutrition
The Mediterranean diet is considered a healthy diet because it provides truly cardioprotective nutritional substances, the most important of which are antioxidants. These prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, thus preventing it from adhering to the cell walls of the arteries (which initiates the process of atherosclerosis). However, it has been observed that blood cholesterol is not the only determining factor. The Mediterranean diet provides other antioxidant substances: vitamins E, A and C, flavonoids and polyphenols, the first being the most important. In fact, in a 1991 study, a lack of vitamin E was perceived as one of the main predictors of cholesterol and hypertension risk, and in another 1993 study it was suggested that including vitamin E in the diet reduces cardiovascular mortality.
| Antioxidant | Foods containing it |
|---|---|
| Vitamin E | olive oil, (and to a lesser extent) other vegetable oils, wheat, nuts, almonds (fresh), vegetables (especially raw) |
| Vitamin A | carrots, potatoes, leaf vegetables, broccoli, lettuce, pumpkin, apricot |
| Vitamin C | oranges and lemons, grapes, strawberry, tomato, pepper, potatoes and paprika |
| Flavonoids | onion, apple, tea, wine |
| Polifenols | red wine |
In the Mediterranean countries the Mediterranean diet pyramid has been updated to adapt to the current lifestyle in the new Mediterranean diet pyramid. Some proportions of the different food groups are recommended, as well as the composition of the main meals and also the way of selecting, cooking and consuming these foods are incorporated.
Declaration as a World Heritage Site
On November 16, 2013, it was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in a joint name of Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco. Previously, in 2007, the Spanish Government proposed the candidacy of the Mediterranean diet for its inclusion on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, but it was rejected at the international conference that Unesco held in Nairobi. In 2013, UNESCO agreed that the Mediterranean diet be inscribed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Cyprus, Croatia and Portugal, three years after approving this requirement for Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco.
Risks
Moderate consumption of wine, typical of the Mediterranean diet, increases the risk of certain diseases, such as various types of cancer. On the other hand, the Mediterranean diet may include moderate amounts of red and/or processed meat, associated both to the development of colorectal cancer. The presence of heavy metals in fish has also been warned, which is why certain specific consumption guidelines are recommended.
Criticism
The Mediterranean diet, as it was proposed, has never been traditionally consumed in any Mediterranean country. Epidemiological studies show that the consumption of eggs, for example, would be around ten eggs per week, the consumption of meat or fish is daily, and the consumption of ice cream and other sweets was comparable to that of fruit for dessert, etc.. When Keys analyzed the Cretan diet in the 1950s, food was fairly rationed, and perhaps at that time the daily diet of Cretans was more like what he proposed.[citation needed]
On the other hand, Keys relied on the image of health projected by the Mediterranean countries among Americans to formulate a more rational diet, since the American diet of his time abused the consumption of certain products (meat, eggs and butter). and ignored others (vegetables and fish). She ended up formulating a diet dominated by plant products, supplemented with fair amounts of meat and fish.
In the case of Spain:
"Although our collective imagination tells us that all our grandparents followed the Mediterranean diet, we must remember that, until the 60s and 70s, the food that most Spaniards took was mostly made up of cereals, potatoes and vegetables, and they did not eat as many vegetables, fruits and fish as the canons of this food regime (which, on the other hand, have not been standardized until a few years ago).For more inri, in the 1970s, when the production of fruits, vegetables and olive oil was significantly increased, their export on national consumption was prioritized, and the Spaniards could not enjoy these new resources until the 1980s.
The case of olive oil is especially paradigmatic: in the 1970s it increased significantly its production, but because its export allowed for rapid foreign exchange, domestically the consumption of soy oil and sunflower – which was also beneficial to the livestock industry – was encouraged. It is not surprising, therefore, that in these years its consumption would diminish, that only rebound from the 1990s. "