page_title: Mediterranean diet
section_title: Dietary components
hierarchical_section_title: Mediterranean diet / Dietary components
caption_attribution_description: Harvard food pyramid for the Mediterranean Diet.
context_page_description: The Mediterranean diet is a diet inspired by the eating habits of Spain, Italy and Greece in the 1960s. The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products, moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of non-fish meat products. Olive oil has been studied as a potential health factor for reducing all-cause mortality and the risk of chronic diseases.
  The Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality in observational studies. There is some evidence that the Mediterranean diet lowers the risk of heart disease and early death, although a 2019 review determined that the evidence had low quality and was uncertain. The American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association recommend the Mediterranean diet as a healthy dietary pattern that may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, respectively. The Mediterranean diet may help with weight loss in obese people.
context_section_description: There are variations of the "Mediterranean diets" in different countries and among the individual populations of the Mediterranean basin, due to ethnic, cultural, economic and religious diversities. The "Mediterranean diet" as defined by dietitians generally includes the following components, which are not typical of diets in the Mediterranean basin:
  High intakes of olive oil (as the principal source of fat), vegetables (including leafy green vegetables, onions, garlic, tomatoes and peppers), fresh fruits (consumed as desserts or snacks), cereals (mostly whole grains), nuts and legumes.
  Moderate intakes of fish and other seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt) and red wine.
  Low intakes of red meat, processed meat, refined carbohydrates and sweets.
  These proportions are sometimes represented in the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid. In a diet with roughly this composition, the fat content accounts for 25% to 35% of the total intake of calories, while the amount of saturated fat is, at most, 8% of the calorie content.
  In contrast to the dietary recommendation, olive oil is not the staple fat in much of the Mediterranean basin: in northern and central Italy, lard and butter are commonly used in cooking, and olive oil is reserved for dressing salads and cooked vegetables; in both North Africa and the Middle East, sheep's tail fat and rendered butter (samna) are traditional staple fats.
caption: The Mediterranean diet food pyramid, summarizing the pattern of eating associated with this diet
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