This article is about the dietary recommendation that became popular in the 1990s. For food of the areas around the Mediterranean Sea, see Mediterranean cuisine.
Some of the products that make up the Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet is a concept first invented in 1975 by the American biologist Ancel Keys and chemist Margaret Keys. The diet took inspiration from the supposed eating habits and traditional food typical of southern Spain, southern Italy, and Crete, and formulated in the early 1960s.[1] It is distinct from Mediterranean cuisine, which covers the actual cuisines of the Mediterranean countries, and from the Atlantic diet of northwestern Spain and Portugal. While inspired by a specific time and place, the "Mediterranean diet" was later refined based on the results of multiple scientific studies.[2]
As a nutritional recommendation, the Mediterranean diet is different from the cultural practices identified by UNESCO in 2010 under the heading "Mediterranean diet" on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which defined the diet as "a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food".[12][13]
^Dinu, M; Pagliai, G; Casini, A; Sofi, F (10 May 2017). "Mediterranean diet and multiple health outcomes: an umbrella review of meta-analyses of observational studies and randomised trials". European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 72 (1): 30–43. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2017.58. hdl:2158/1081996. PMID28488692. S2CID7702206.
^"2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans" (National guidelines). Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.