Alas, poor Medierranean Diet, we knew ye well.

JeromeBarry1

Just when we start being willing to eat for good health, the historical cultural center of healthy eating is falling into American-style excess.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/ethics/mediterranean-countries-forgot-the-mediterranean-diet?bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiAiZTVjMTNlNzEtNmNiNi00Y2EyLTlmMWQtZmU5ZmVmNDFhOWVjIn0=&utm_campaign=TechAlert_09-01-16&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Tech+Alert

Need2Exerc1se

Sad. But really surprising. Humans are humans. We like the easy way.

RodaRose

Except there are 17 countries on the Mediterranean (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) and a only a handful were cherry picked for Ancel Keys's "Seven Countries Study" in 1958:
http://www.sevencountriesstudy.com/about-the-study/investigators/ancel-keys/

Need2Exerc1se

RodaRose wrote: »

Except there are 17 countries on the Mediterranean (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) and a only a handful were cherry picked for Ancel Keys's "Seven Countries Study" in 1958:
http://www.sevencountriesstudy.com/about-the-study/investigators/ancel-keys/

What has that to do with the article the OP posted?

rainbowbow

where did they get the data for this?


Having recently been to a few of these countries (and not small towns) I experienced the opposite. I don't even think i saw "american" style food when i was in greece or italy.

Need2Exerc1se

rainbowbow wrote: »

where did they get the data for this?


Having recently been to a few of these countries (and not small towns) I experienced the opposite. I don't even think i saw "american" style food when i was in greece or italy.

It sounds like it's at least partly based on food purchase data. There is a link to this article

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/07/14/inenglish/1436884922_083159.html

Which says:
A June report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) notes that the region is shifting away from its traditional diet, and warns that the effects of this shift go beyond nutrition.

“The abandonment of traditional habits and the emergence of new lifestyles associated with socio-economic changes pose important threats to the preservation and transmission of the Mediterranean diet to future generations,” reads the report Mediterranean Food Consumption Patterns

And this:

“In the PREDIMED study [Prevention through a Mediterranean Diet], which included 7,447 subjects living in eight different regions, the degree of adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet, on a scale of 14 points, was around 8.5,” he says. “Middle-aged and older Spaniards got a C+ or a B-, depending on how you look at it. But younger people scored much lower. In other words, we are losing the Mediterranean diet and are not even aware of it.”

kwtilbury

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

Except there are 17 countries on the Mediterranean (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) and a only a handful were cherry picked for Ancel Keys's "Seven Countries Study" in 1958:
http://www.sevencountriesstudy.com/about-the-study/investigators/ancel-keys/

What has that to do with the article the OP posted?

I believe this is the same study as what's referenced in the article. It's the same author.

So diets in modern Mediterranean countries are different that those of their ancestors. Isn't that true of every nation, including America?

Need2Exerc1se

kwtilbury wrote: »

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

RodaRose wrote: »

Except there are 17 countries on the Mediterranean (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, Slovenia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey) and a only a handful were cherry picked for Ancel Keys's "Seven Countries Study" in 1958:
http://www.sevencountriesstudy.com/about-the-study/investigators/ancel-keys/

What has that to do with the article the OP posted?

I believe this is the same study as what's referenced in the article. It's the same author.

So diets in modern Mediterranean countries are different that those of their ancestors. Isn't that true of every nation, including America?

Yes, and that's the point of the article. Not how the diet was first documented, but that the areas that set the standard for healthy diet are moving away from it.

lodro

but the "mediterranean diet" was an invention from the beginning. so how could they be moving away from something that didn't exist in that form in the first place?

lemurcat12

They are moving away from their traditional diet, which some call the mediterranean diet. Obviously there never was one med diet, but that doesn't mean that changes can't be seen.

cwolfman13

lodro wrote: »

but the "mediterranean diet" was an invention from the beginning. so how could they be moving away from something that didn't exist in that form in the first place?

Not really...

The key traits of the diet are a high intake of carbohydrates (mostly bread, pasta, and rice) complemented by pulses (beans, peas, chickpeas) and nuts, dairy products (mostly cheese and yogurt), fruits and vegetables, seafood, and lightly processed seasonal foods, generally cooked with olive oil. It included much more modest quantities of sugar and of meat. Best of all, plenty of wine was taken with the food.

Nobody ever said everyone was eating the same..there are key traits of the diet. So people are moving away from their traditional food culture and these key traits and eating in a way the more closely resembles the SAD.

Need2Exerc1se

lodro wrote: »

but the "mediterranean diet" was an invention from the beginning. so how could they be moving away from something that didn't exist in that form in the first place?

It wasn't exactly an "invention", more a documentation of the general eating habits of a large region. The article addresses the changes.