By Lisa Radinovsky from Greek Liquid Gold.
The health benefits of the Mediterranean diet have earned it widespread fame, from social media and TV to cookbooks and conferences. For eight years, U.S. News & World Report’s panel of nutrition scientists and public health experts have ranked it the Best Diet Overall. Read on to learn what’s in it, who cares, why it matters, and what it can do for your health.
The Mediterranean (Med) diet is the healthy eating pattern traditionally found in the olive-growing areas around the Mediterranean Sea before the 1960s. Scientists now associate it with a wide range of positive impacts for both people and the planet.
The Med diet includes:
- plenty of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, olive oil, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices
- seafood at least twice a week
- eggs, poultry, and dairy products daily to weekly
- wine in moderation, usually with a meal
- little or no red or processed meat or sweets
The American professor Ancel Keys led the first major study that began to uncover the Mediterranean diet’s health benefits in the 1950s, when the diet on the Greek island of Crete offered the most impressive results. Over the last few decades, study after study has supported claims about the benefits of the traditional Med diet.
“It is rare to have such consistent evidence of the beneficial effects” of a diet as what scientists have discovered regarding the traditional Mediterranean eating pattern, according to Dr. Antonia Trichopoulou, one of the creators of the original Mediterranean diet pyramid in 1995, now Head of the Center for Public Health Research and Education at the Academy of Athens and Professor Emeritus at University of Athens School of Medicine.
Recognition of the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle
In 2010, UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, recognized the Mediterranean diet on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As UNESCO implies, this is actually a lifestyle as well as a diet: the “Mediterranean diet involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food.” Far more meaningful than simply ingesting nutrients, “eating together is the foundation of the cultural identity and continuity of communities throughout the Mediterranean basin.”
While many of the Mediterranean diet’s health benefits come from foods that contain valuable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, the relaxed, sociable, active lifestyle of the region also reduces stress and offers a host of additional advantages. Trichopoulou agrees with many scientists that this is “a diet that maximizes longevity, improves health-related quality of life, and is ecologically sustainable and environmentally friendly.”
The Mediterranean diet’s health benefits, for the planet and its inhabitants
There is substantial evidence that a Mediterranean-style diet is kind to the earth. This is part of the reason the EAT-Lancet Commission 2.0 recommends a Planetary Health Diet, which is exemplified by the traditional Mediterranean diet, as a nutritious, sustainable diet that can help us feed everyone on earth while improving the health of the planet.
Like the Planetary Health Diet, the Med diet encompasses considerable diversity, since there are numerous culinary traditions in the Mediterranean region. Seeking to expand the benefits of the Med diet worldwide, scientists also propose various Mediterranean-style diets, fusion diets that mix desirable ingredients and flavors from two or more healthy diets, and the creatively named Planeterranean Diet, which can include traditional heritage diets from Latin America, Africa, and Asia that offer similar nutrients and benefits to the traditional Mediterranean diet, using locally available ingredients and reflecting local traditions and cuisine.
While many scientists continue to consider the Mediterranean diet the eating pattern with the most evidence for its health benefits, some also endorse the idea that flexibility regarding dietary choices is likely to translate to wider-ranging gains globally.
The Mediterranean diet’s health benefits, based on scientific evidence
As some of the world’s most renowned specialists on the Mediterranean diet have written, “a large body of evidence from prospective cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, and mechanistic studies consistently supports the benefits of the MedDiet for the prevention of chronic diseases, particularly cardiometabolic diseases and the improvement of healthy aging.”
A variety of studies indicate that there is scientific evidence that greater adherence to a traditional Mediterranean diet is likely to reduce the symptoms of:
- ADHD
- depression
- osteoarthritis
- type 2 diabetes
- rheumatoid arthritis
- inflammatory bowel disease
Improve:
- oral health
- brain function
- healthy aging
- cognitive health
- athletes’ endurance
- likelihood in vitro fertilization will succeed
Lower the risk of:
- cancer
- strokes
- obesity
- brain cancer
- breast cancer
- type 2 diabetes
- colorectal cancer
- premature mortality
- frailty in older adults
- metabolic syndrome
- gestational diabetes
- chronic constipation
- macular degeneration
- cardiovascular diseases
- some of the deadliest impacts of Covid 19
- atrial fibrillation (irregular, often rapid heartbeat)
- neurodegenerative diseases, e.g. cognitive impairment, dementia, & Alzheimer’s disease
The Mediterranean diet’s extensive antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective benefits come from many types of natural bioactive compounds, including phenolic compounds, in foods such as extra virgin olive oil and wild greens and herbs—among many others.
At the Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean conference in October 2025, Dr. Ramon Estruch of the University of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Diet Foundation agreed with many presenters in emphasizing that “the Mediterranean diet should be regarded as the healthiest and most scientifically supported dietary pattern, promoting longevity, cardiovascular health, and overall well-being.” With its centuries of history and tradition and its roots in olive groves, the Mediterranean diet’s eco-friendly aspects and wide range of wonderful flavors make this an especially appealing choice for health-conscious individuals.
*Originally published on Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (greekliquidgold.com). See that site for recipes with olive oil, photos from Greece, agrotourism and food tourism suggestions, and olive oil news and information.
