MEDITERRANEAN DIET: A SHELTER AGAINST CHRONIC DISEASES

The Mediterranean diet is characterized by abundant quantities of vegetables( fruit, vegetable, bread, some other kinds of cereals, pulses, meats, seeds) fresh fruit, instead of sweets, at the end of the meal, olive oil as main source for fats, milk-product( over all cheese and yoghurt), small or medium quantities of fish and poultry, 1-4 eggs a week, a little red meat and wine, usually consumed while eating. This diet has only a few saturated fats( not more than 7-8% of the whole energetic support), while the total fats shift from less than 25% to more than 35% of the whole caloric support in the whole region. According to the Experts, this diet should be carefully followed to prevent from chronic diseases, over all cardio-disease. The first to describe the Mediterranean diet as such was Ancel Keys, founder of the hypothesis of the lipids, according to which cardio-diseases are caused by “ the worst enemies of our diet”: the saturated fats contained in meat and milk. When he was “ visiting professor” at Oxford University he first came closer to the Mediterranean diet, in the 50’s.In 1951 he was chairman of the first FAO conference( the Organization of the United Nations for Food and Agriculture) in its main seat in Rome. The conference aimed at food lack. ‘When I collected information about the relation between food and coronary diseases, Gino Bergami( physiology), professor at Naples University) said that in that city cardio-diseases were not any problem”. Doctor Keys came back to Oxford where, underpaid as every” visiting professor”, had many problems to pay central heating and food. At a certain point he decided to go to Naples, the city of the sun, to check what Dr Bergami affirmed. Here he learned to know the traditional “trattorie”( rustic and simple restaurants) where he tasted” pasta and pizza”. Keys discovered that hearth- attacks were really rare in Naples” except for higher classes, whose food was heavier than the rest of the population’s. They ate meat everyday, while the poor used meat every one or two weeks”. His wife enjoyed checking the cholesterol levels in the blood” and she found out they were very low , apart from the associates of Rotary Club. After this careful research Keys was convinced that there was a relation among food, cholesterol and coronary cardio-diseases” the key-ingredients at the basis of the Mediterranean diet is basically vegetarian’ Keys explains. Pasta cooked in various ways, salads with some olive oil, all the kinds of season –vegetables and often cheese, in the end some fruit and, in many cases, a glass of wine. At first Dr Keys’ revolutionary theories gained no interest.
However in 1952 , he met a careful spectator when he presented his hypothesis to a limited group of experts at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. His thesis convinced Fred Hepstein , who started spreading this message with surprising effects both in Europe and in Usa”. Then Keys published the famous” Study of the Seven countries” where he dealt with the relationship between the high number of coronary diseases and the consumption of saturated fats in seven countries. He chose countries characterized by a high use of saturated fats and hearth- diseases at the same time, while he ignored the countries with a similar diet but not so many heart- diseases. Since the publication of Keys’ ”research” the Mediterranean diet( from a rhetorical point of view) has been integral part of the directions of the US government. The USDA pictured the nostalgic memory of the dishes served by the inns in the sunny streets of Naples, in the very famous food- pyramid, based an a good amount of white bread and pasta with an abundant layer of fruit and vegetables. This original-shaped pizza needs some olive oil drops, some cheese, one or two sardines, some sugar and that’s all: here’s the solution to chronic diseases. Though this food- pyramid has been adopted all over the world some chronic diseases are still wide-spread. In 1993 Fred Epstein presented his work about the seven countries in Fukuoka in Japan, then he held the fourth yearly conference at the Convention of the American Hearth Association. After these events keys got a lot of requests for interviews”. In may 1993 a group of journalists of American Review came to my home an Minuelea, Minnesota, together with an American photographer to picture the interview about the Mediterranean diet. Dr Keys in not obliged anymore to spend the winter in the cold Minnesota because he can escape to his second house in the South of Italy. However , his holidays in Naples give him also painful results, when he checks the decline of the Mediterranean diet.” The restaurants are more and more crowded but the dishes served are farther and farther from the Mediterranean tradition…..Every course is made healthier by butter or meat. Only fruit is seldom served as dessert: cakes or ice-creams are usually consumed. Even if Italian restaurants boast of their balsamic Mediterranean cooking, they are now four from the Mediterranean diet, they serve only a worse imitation.