Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2017 Nov 8;9(11):1226.
doi: 10.3390/nu9111226.

Transferability of the Mediterranean Diet to Non-Mediterranean Countries. What Is and What Is Not the Mediterranean Diet

Miguel Ángel Martínez-González  1   2   3   4 , Maria Soledad Hershey  5 , Itziar Zazpe  6   7   8   9 , Antonia Trichopoulou  10   11
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Transferability of the Mediterranean Diet to Non-Mediterranean Countries. What Is and What Is Not the Mediterranean Diet

Miguel Ángel Martínez-González et al. Nutrients. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Substantial evidence has verified the Mediterranean diet's (MedDiet) nutritional adequacy, long-term sustainability, and effectiveness for preventing hard clinical events from cardiovascular disease (CVD), as well as increasing longevity. This article includes a cumulative meta-analysis of prospective studies supporting a strong inverse association between closer adherence to the MedDiet and the incidence of hard clinical events of CVD. The MedDiet has become an increasingly popular topic of interest when focusing on overall food patterns rather than single nutrient intake, not only in Mediterranean countries, but also globally. However, several myths and misconceptions associated with the traditional Mediterranean diet should be clearly addressed and dispelled, particularly those that label as "Mediterranean" an eating pattern that is not in line with the traditional Mediterranean diet. The transferability of the traditional MedDiet to the non-Mediterranean populations is possible, but it requires a multitude of changes in dietary habits. New approaches for promoting healthy dietary behavior consistent with the MedDiet will offer healthful, sustainable, and practical strategies at all levels of public health. The following article presents practical resources and knowledge necessary for accomplishing these changes.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; cardiovascular disease; dietary intervention; dietary patterns; dietary recommendations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Cumulative meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies of Mediterranean diet adherence (for each 2 additional points in a 0 to 9 score) and the risk of mortality from or incidence of cardiovascular disease. W: Women; M: Men.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot describing the association between adherence to MedDiet (for each 2 additional points in a 0 to 9 score) and the risk of mortality from or incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The center of each square indicates the relative risk of the study and the horizontal lines 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs). The area of the square is proportional to the size of the study. The diamond indicates a pooled estimate.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Trichopoulou A., Martínez-González M.A., Tong T.Y., Forouhi N.G., Khandelwal S., Prabhakaran D., Mozaffarian D., de Lorgeril M. Definitions and potential health benefits of the Mediterranean diet: Views from experts around the world. BMC Med. 2014;12:112. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-12-112. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Trichopoulou A., Costacou T., Bamia C., Trichopoulos D. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and survival in a Greek population. N. Engl. J. Med. 2003;348:2599–2608. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa025039. - DOI - PubMed
    1. De Lorgeril M., Renaud S., Mamelle N., Salen P., Martin J.L., Monjaud I., Guidollet J., Touboul P., Delaye J. Mediterranean alpha-linolenic acid-rich diet in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. Lancet. 1994;343:1454–1459. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(94)92580-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Estruch R., Ros E., Salas-Salvado J., Covas M.-I., Corella D., Arós F., Gómez-Gracia E., Ruiz-Gutiérrez V., Fiol M., Lapetra J., et al. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet. N. Engl. J. Med. 2013;368:1279–1290. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1200303. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sofi F., Macchi C., Abbate R., Gensini G.F., Casini A. Mediterranean diet and health status: An updated meta-analysis and a proposal for a literature-based adherence score. Public Health Nutr. 2014;17:2769–2782. doi: 10.1017/S1368980013003169. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources