Many modern Mediterraneans are leaving the Mediterranean diet behind — with predictable results

Fresh fruits and vegetables. Olive oil. Fish. Red wine. You probably recognize these items as components of the Mediterranean diet.

During WW II, physiologist Ancel Keys realized that this simple cuisine reduced heart disease risk.

But the local Italians didn’t make these dietary choices for their health. They made the choices because they were poor.

Two generations later, ironically, the poor can’t afford those foods. They’re more likely to wash down a cheap burger with a soft drink. And as you might suspect, this dietary choice is popular with the young, whether they happen to be poor or wealthy.

This “American” diet is also known as the industrial global diet. And 70 years after Keys made the heart disease connection, a modern-day Keys would make the same connection in reverse.

Heart disease rates are up. Obesity rates are up. Type 2 diabetes rates are up. And dietary choices are primarily driving those numbers.

It’s sad. In fact, it’s tragic. The Mediterranean diet is disappearing in the Mediterranean.

Also disappearing — robust Mediterranean health.

Sources:
“Mediterraneans Abandon Their Famous Diet” Jeremy Cherfas, NPR, 7/14/12, npr.org