Nowadays, the international scientific community acknowledges the benefits of the Mediterranean diet without reservations. Its virtues are also underscored in the mass media. We have all heard about it, but … what exactly is the Mediterranean diet?

When we talk about the Mediterranean diet, we refer to a set of eating habits and a lifestyle that Mediterranean countries have observed by way of tradition. All these countries – even where they show culture-dependent differences in habits - maintain certain common bases that we could summarize in:

• The use of olive oil as a principal source of fats.
• The abundance of plant elements such as bread, rice, pasta, vegetables, salads, legumes, fruits or dried fruits.
• The consumption of fish, free-ranging poultry, milk products and eggs.
• Small amounts of red meat and the moderate consumption of wine at mealtimes.

These bases, along with an active lifestyle, constitute the well-known Mediterranean diet. According to recent studies, those who observe it live more and suffer less diseases. These are the positive consequences of observing healthy nutrition.