The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health

De Marco Alessandra; Velardi Maria; Camporeale Cecilia; Screpanti Augusto; Vitale Marcello

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

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The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health

De Marco Alessandra, Velardi Maria, Camporeale Cecilia, Screpanti Augusto, Vitale Marcello

Published in International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 2, Issue 2)

Received: 24 February 2014 Accepted: Published: 20 March 2014

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Abstract

The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) trends from 1961to 2007, for 48 countries pooled in 4 clusters according to their geographical location (Mediterranean European (ME) countries, Other Mediterranean (OM) countries, Northern European (NE) countries, Eastern European (EE) countries), has been analysed. In almost all the countries the adherence to Mediterranean diet is decreasing from 1961up to 2007, even if with different trend linked to the geographical and cultural characteristic of the clusters (respectively -56% for European Mediterranean and -21 for non-European Mediterranean). The cluster more adherent to healthy Mediterranean diet principles is the OM one, where the incidence of colorectal cancer is shown to be around 50% lower respect to the incidence in ME countries, and around 60% lower respect to the incidence in EE and NE countries. A significant relationship was observed between colorectal cancer incidence and animal protein consumption. On the other hand, vegetable protein intake is suggested to be slightly protective against colorectal cancer incidence. The ecological footprint of food production is higher in ME and NE than in OM and EE countries, even if it is generally higher than the biocapacity. In the 70% of the analysed countries water consumption for food production exceeds the total water exploitable, with an increasing trend from 1961 to 2007. An increase of 1 unit of MAI can decrease the ecological, carbon and water footprint (around 20-25%), in dependence on the initial level of MAI. Due to the environmental and health beneficial effects, the Mediterranean diet can be promoted as a win-win diet system.

Published in	International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 2, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
Page(s)	64-75
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Mediterranean Adequacy Index, Protein Intake, Food Ecological Footprint, Food Carbon Footprint, Food Water Footprint

References

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De Marco Alessandra, Velardi Maria, Camporeale Cecilia, Screpanti Augusto, Vitale Marcello. (2014). The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 2(2), 64-75. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

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ACS Style

De Marco Alessandra; Velardi Maria; Camporeale Cecilia; Screpanti Augusto; Vitale Marcello. The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2014, 2(2), 64-75. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

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AMA Style

De Marco Alessandra, Velardi Maria, Camporeale Cecilia, Screpanti Augusto, Vitale Marcello. The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2014;2(2):64-75. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14,
  author = {De Marco Alessandra and Velardi Maria and Camporeale Cecilia and Screpanti Augusto and Vitale Marcello},
  title = {The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health},
  journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
  volume = {2},
  number = {2},
  pages = {64-75},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20140202.14},
  abstract = {The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) trends from 1961to 2007, for 48 countries pooled in 4 clusters according to their geographical location (Mediterranean European (ME) countries, Other Mediterranean (OM) countries, Northern European (NE) countries, Eastern European (EE) countries), has been analysed. In almost all the countries the adherence to Mediterranean diet is decreasing from 1961up to 2007, even if with different trend linked to the geographical and cultural characteristic of the clusters (respectively -56% for European Mediterranean and -21 for non-European Mediterranean). The cluster more adherent to healthy Mediterranean diet principles is the OM one, where the incidence of colorectal cancer is shown to be around 50% lower respect to the incidence in ME countries, and around 60% lower respect to the incidence in EE and NE countries. A significant relationship was observed between colorectal cancer incidence and animal protein consumption. On the other hand, vegetable protein intake is suggested to be slightly protective against colorectal cancer incidence. The ecological footprint of food production is higher in ME and NE than in OM and EE countries, even if it is generally higher than the biocapacity. In the 70% of the analysed countries water consumption for food production exceeds the total water exploitable, with an increasing trend from 1961 to 2007. An increase of 1 unit of MAI can decrease the ecological, carbon and water footprint (around 20-25%), in dependence on the initial level of MAI. Due to the environmental and health beneficial effects, the Mediterranean diet can be promoted as a win-win diet system.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health
AU  - De Marco Alessandra
AU  - Velardi Maria
AU  - Camporeale Cecilia
AU  - Screpanti Augusto
AU  - Vitale Marcello
Y1  - 2014/03/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
T2  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
JF  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
JO  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
SP  - 64
EP  - 75
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7536
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
AB  - The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) trends from 1961to 2007, for 48 countries pooled in 4 clusters according to their geographical location (Mediterranean European (ME) countries, Other Mediterranean (OM) countries, Northern European (NE) countries, Eastern European (EE) countries), has been analysed. In almost all the countries the adherence to Mediterranean diet is decreasing from 1961up to 2007, even if with different trend linked to the geographical and cultural characteristic of the clusters (respectively -56% for European Mediterranean and -21 for non-European Mediterranean). The cluster more adherent to healthy Mediterranean diet principles is the OM one, where the incidence of colorectal cancer is shown to be around 50% lower respect to the incidence in ME countries, and around 60% lower respect to the incidence in EE and NE countries. A significant relationship was observed between colorectal cancer incidence and animal protein consumption. On the other hand, vegetable protein intake is suggested to be slightly protective against colorectal cancer incidence. The ecological footprint of food production is higher in ME and NE than in OM and EE countries, even if it is generally higher than the biocapacity. In the 70% of the analysed countries water consumption for food production exceeds the total water exploitable, with an increasing trend from 1961 to 2007. An increase of 1 unit of MAI can decrease the ecological, carbon and water footprint (around 20-25%), in dependence on the initial level of MAI. Due to the environmental and health beneficial effects, the Mediterranean diet can be promoted as a win-win diet system.
VL  - 2
IS  - 2
ER  -

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Author Information

De Marco Alessandra

Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA), C.R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Rome, Italy
Velardi Maria

Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA), C.R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Rome, Italy
Camporeale Cecilia

Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA), C.R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Rome, Italy
Screpanti Augusto

Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA), C.R. Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Rome, Italy
Vitale Marcello

Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

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De Marco Alessandra, Velardi Maria, Camporeale Cecilia, Screpanti Augusto, Vitale Marcello. (2014). The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 2(2), 64-75. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

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ACS Style

De Marco Alessandra; Velardi Maria; Camporeale Cecilia; Screpanti Augusto; Vitale Marcello. The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2014, 2(2), 64-75. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

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De Marco Alessandra, Velardi Maria, Camporeale Cecilia, Screpanti Augusto, Vitale Marcello. The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2014;2(2):64-75. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14,
  author = {De Marco Alessandra and Velardi Maria and Camporeale Cecilia and Screpanti Augusto and Vitale Marcello},
  title = {The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health},
  journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
  volume = {2},
  number = {2},
  pages = {64-75},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20140202.14},
  abstract = {The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) trends from 1961to 2007, for 48 countries pooled in 4 clusters according to their geographical location (Mediterranean European (ME) countries, Other Mediterranean (OM) countries, Northern European (NE) countries, Eastern European (EE) countries), has been analysed. In almost all the countries the adherence to Mediterranean diet is decreasing from 1961up to 2007, even if with different trend linked to the geographical and cultural characteristic of the clusters (respectively -56% for European Mediterranean and -21 for non-European Mediterranean). The cluster more adherent to healthy Mediterranean diet principles is the OM one, where the incidence of colorectal cancer is shown to be around 50% lower respect to the incidence in ME countries, and around 60% lower respect to the incidence in EE and NE countries. A significant relationship was observed between colorectal cancer incidence and animal protein consumption. On the other hand, vegetable protein intake is suggested to be slightly protective against colorectal cancer incidence. The ecological footprint of food production is higher in ME and NE than in OM and EE countries, even if it is generally higher than the biocapacity. In the 70% of the analysed countries water consumption for food production exceeds the total water exploitable, with an increasing trend from 1961 to 2007. An increase of 1 unit of MAI can decrease the ecological, carbon and water footprint (around 20-25%), in dependence on the initial level of MAI. Due to the environmental and health beneficial effects, the Mediterranean diet can be promoted as a win-win diet system.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Adherence of the Diet to Mediterranean Principle and Its Impacts on Human and Environmental Health
AU  - De Marco Alessandra
AU  - Velardi Maria
AU  - Camporeale Cecilia
AU  - Screpanti Augusto
AU  - Vitale Marcello
Y1  - 2014/03/20
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
T2  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
JF  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
JO  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
SP  - 64
EP  - 75
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7536
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20140202.14
AB  - The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) trends from 1961to 2007, for 48 countries pooled in 4 clusters according to their geographical location (Mediterranean European (ME) countries, Other Mediterranean (OM) countries, Northern European (NE) countries, Eastern European (EE) countries), has been analysed. In almost all the countries the adherence to Mediterranean diet is decreasing from 1961up to 2007, even if with different trend linked to the geographical and cultural characteristic of the clusters (respectively -56% for European Mediterranean and -21 for non-European Mediterranean). The cluster more adherent to healthy Mediterranean diet principles is the OM one, where the incidence of colorectal cancer is shown to be around 50% lower respect to the incidence in ME countries, and around 60% lower respect to the incidence in EE and NE countries. A significant relationship was observed between colorectal cancer incidence and animal protein consumption. On the other hand, vegetable protein intake is suggested to be slightly protective against colorectal cancer incidence. The ecological footprint of food production is higher in ME and NE than in OM and EE countries, even if it is generally higher than the biocapacity. In the 70% of the analysed countries water consumption for food production exceeds the total water exploitable, with an increasing trend from 1961 to 2007. An increase of 1 unit of MAI can decrease the ecological, carbon and water footprint (around 20-25%), in dependence on the initial level of MAI. Due to the environmental and health beneficial effects, the Mediterranean diet can be promoted as a win-win diet system.
VL  - 2
IS  - 2
ER  -

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