A FORGOTTEN DIET- THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET FROM NICOTERA

The story of the Mediterranean diet is original and even paradoxical . Everything started in the 50’s when Ancel Key, an American scientist Public School For Food At Minnesota University, came to Italy on holiday and realized an astonishing fact: the “poor” of the far little villages in the South of Italy, who usually ate only bread, red onion from Tropea and tomato, were healthier than New –Yorkers but even than their migrant relatives in the USA. The nutritive value of the Mediterranean diet is scientifically demonstrated by the most famous “ Study of the seven countries”. Antonio De Lorenzo has explained (professor of Nutrition and food at Tor Vergata University in Rome). The researchers compared the diets of seven populations from seven different countries to check their benefits and defects; the best diet resulted to be the diet from Nicotera in Calabria, whose inhabitants were faithful followers of the Mediterranean diet. The people from Nicotera( Calabria), from Montegiorgio( Marche) and from Campania had a lower level of cholesterol in the blood and a minimum percentage of hearth diseases. The real evidence was really their simple diet( founded on olive oil, on hand-made bread and pasta, on garlic, red onion, aromatic herbs, a lot of vegetables and meat. A 30-year-long study confirmed that the Mediterranean diet is in crisis. Some say it risks to disappear. Even in the South of Europe the Mediterranean diet has always been recognized as one of the healthiest in the world, a simple way to feed ,based on the products of these Mediterranean countries: pure olive oil, fresh fruit, pulses, cereals, vegetables, fish and red wine. A kind of food typical of Italy in the 50’s. this kind of cooking is very old: it appeared as every-day-food, already in the Bible. Today this healthy food-style is disappearing: people, especially the young, prefer to go to fast-foods or to eat very quickly with industrial snacks. The consumption of food containing animal fats is more and more increasing with a consequential increase of cardio-vascular diseases and of cancers. The survey was made by the ‘Seven Country – study’ an international study comparing the food-styles of seven countries: Holland, Greece, Italy, Finland, USA, Japan and ex- Yugoslavia. The study has shown that the Mediterranean diet is not a standard food habit anymore, in fact it is disappearing. And with it we are ignoring a very good way to prevent from hearth-diseases and cancer. The study was further deepened, involving 12.000 people aged 40-59 years from seven different nations, living both in cities or in agricultural areas. Among the rural geographic areas the Mediterranean had a few dead people due to cardio – vascular diseases. The best areas were the isles of Crete and Corfu in Greece: the little village Crevalcore (Emilia); the village Montegiorgio(Marche); the Calabria village of Nicotera. The ultimate result celebrates Crete and Nicotera as the best places, where the Mediterranean diet is still alive.