How a gastroenterologist interprets the mediterranean diet

Abstract

Healthy diet, weight control, and physical activity are the main strategies of the primary prevention against chronic illnesses. The Mediterranean dietary pattern, considered the world’s healthiest way of eating and living, should be rediscovered and proposed daily on our tables. The traditional Mediterranean diet - that is, the diet consumed by the people living in the Mediterranean area in the 1950s-1960s after World War II - is not only a way of eating but a body of knowledge, social customs, and cultural traditions historically handed down by populations bordering the Mare Nostrum. The Mediterranean lifestyle includes high intake of whole cereals, legumes, extra virgin olive oil, fruits and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of red and processed meats. The adequate qualitative and quantitative combination of these traditional foods allows to prevent nutritional inadequacies, by excess or by defect, and to provide protection against degenerative and chronic diseases, thanks to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.