Let’s go to clearly illustrate what happened: this year a panel of 27 experts reviewed 40 diets and ranked them according to several categories:
- How easily the diet is followed;
- How likely a person is to lose weight significantly, both in the short and long term;
- How effective the diet is in preventing cardiovascular disease or diabetes;
- How nutritionally complete the diet is.
In this competition in addition to first place as the best diet overall, the Mediterranean Diet also won the blue ribbon in the following categories: easiest diet to follow; best diet for healthy eating; best diet for diabetes; and best plant-based diet.
Numerous studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of diabetes, high cholesterol, dementia, memory loss, depression, and breast cancer. This diet, which is more of an eating style than a restricted diet, has also been linked to stronger bones, a healthier heart, and a longer life.
The news has not gone unnoticed, and Mike Greene of Auburn University was not surprised to learn that U.S. News & World Report ranked the Mediterranean diet as the best diet again this year for the fifth consecutive year (ocm.auburn.edu/newsroom/news_articles/2022/02/091610-new-year-new-diet.php).
The University of Illinois went a step further in describing the healthy role of the Mediterranean lifestyle: “The Mediterranean diet is not just about eating healthy foods. It focuses on lifestyle, which includes daily physical activity and social relationships. Social connections improve overall physical, mental, and emotional well-being, which is important because stress can negatively affect gut function, heart health, insulin regulation, and the immune system. Positive social connections and caring behaviors can help alleviate stress, whether it is for the giver or the receiver”; also: “the intention to move more today than yesterday is another cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet. Physical activity has both short- and long-term health benefits” and finally: “when these lifestyle behaviors are combined, they have a profound impact on overall health and well-being”. The Mediterranean diet is known as one of the healthiest diets in the world, partly due to the synergistic effect of the overall lifestyle adopted when following this dietary pattern” (extension.illinois.edu/blogs/live-well-eat-well/2021-05-21-improve-your-health mediterranean-diet).
Scientifically, the most interesting paper published this year was written by Mercedes Sotos-Prieto of Harvard University: “Sotos-Prieto M, Del Rio D, Drescher G, Estruch R, Hanson C, Harlan T, Hu FB, Loi M, McClung JP, Mojica A, Puglielli D, Toong K, Yangarber F, Kales SN. Mediterranean diet – promotion and dissemination of healthy eating: proceedings of an exploratory seminar at the Radcliffe institute for advanced study. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2022 Mar;73(2):158-171. doi: 10.1080/09637486.2021.1941804” (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34225548/), the paper concludes: “As a result of the abundant and high-quality evidence, the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) formally recognize and recommend Mediterranean Diet as one of a healthy option for Americans. Moreover, for the last three years in a row, a consensus of health experts selected the Mediterranean Diet as the best overall diet for US News and World Report. Many experts at the conference, noted that while most people react negatively and even reject vegetarian diets out of hand, they respond positively to the Mediterranean Diet concept and pattern. The participants offered a variety of effective methods from different perspectives, in a diversity of environments and across several countries and cultures for disseminating healthier eating based in Mediterranean Diet principles”.
It now remains to explain what the Mediterranean diet and dietary supplements that concentrate therapeutic molecules typical of the vegetables used in the Mediterranean diet have in common; to do this we summarize the published study : “Vasto S, Accardi G, Aiello A, Di Gaudio F, Barera A, Indelicato S, Galimberti D, Italiano E, Monastero R, Rizzo C, Caruso C, Candore G. Dietary Supplements as Surrogate of Mediterranean Diet in Healthy Smoking Subjects. Rejuvenation Res. 2018 Feb;21(1):37-43. doi: 10.1089/rej.2017.1950. Epub 2017 Jun 26. PMID: 28498017” (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28498017/), which points out that the Mediterranean diet has received much attention as its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects have been demonstrated. Unfortunately, many people follow a diet low in phytochemicals that are the main source of the beneficial effects of this dietary pattern. Therefore, supplementation should be considered, especially in individuals exposed to high levels of oxidative stress and inflammation, particularly with plant polyphenols. Also, in the study it was shown that the Mediterranean diet, in combination with a dietary supplement containing antioxidants, improved anthropometric parameters, lipid profile, and reduced hepatic fat accumulation (Vasto S, Accardi G, Aiello A, Di Gaudio F, Barera A, Indelicato S, Galimberti D, Italiano E, Monastero R, Rizzo C, Caruso C, Candore G. Dietary Supplements as Surrogate of Mediterranean Diet in Healthy Smoking Subjects. Rejuvenation Res. 2018 Feb;21(1):37-43. doi: 10.1089/rej.2017.1950. Epub 2017 Jun 26. PMID: 28498017 (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28805669/).
MAGISNAT is a spin-off company working on this trajectory: extracting natural molecules with beneficial effect from the typical vegetables of the Mediterranean diet to make them available to those who wish to take them through the marketing of dietary supplements, disseminating of healthy lifestyles based on the Mediterranean Lifestyle, and disseminating Mediterranean cuisine recipes. MAGISNAT also seeks to develop cultural activities for the purpose of promoting socialization in the typical Mediterranean Lifestyle wellness model.