Still, the traditional diets from the people living in the 1960's in countries like Greece, and Southern Italy have been studied extensively over the past several years. This is due to the notably low incidence of chronic diseases and high life-expectancy rates attributed to these populations who ate traditional Mediterranean diet foods. As a monosaturated fatty acid, olive oil does not have the same cholesterol-raising effect of saturated fats.
Olive oil is also a good source of antioxidants.
Eating red meat sparingly seems to also increase health. There is a general consensus among health professionals that the Mediterranean Diet is healthier than the North European and American diet because more grains, such as spaghetti, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and olive oil are consumed. To receive our free monthly newsletter about Greek Products, please subscribe below. To send this page to a friend via e-mail, please fill in the boxes below.