Between 1950 and 1960, the term “Mediterranean Diet” was coined and proposed by Ancel and Margaret Keys.
Later, after the completion of an international population study in which seven countries participated, investigating a link between diet and that part of the population with coronary heart disease, their differences on the incidence of coronary heart disease and its link with food were revealed. The study is known as the “Seven Countries Study”.
It also established the basis for further studies into the possibility that an adequate diet may reduce the levels of cholesterol in blood, as well as highlight the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, that until that time had not been considered.
In 1975, the term “Mediterranean Diet” began to be used for the first time to refer to the diet of some regions of the Mediterranean Basin, characterised by low consumption of meat, and also as a healthy diet. The Mediterranean Diet: low in animal fats and high in cereals and olive oil.
In years that followed, owing to major economic and cultural developments, eating habits changed, so that the term Mediterranean Diet now no longer refers to the diet eaten by the inhabitants of the Mediterranean countries, but rather the specific characteristics of a given diet.
