Many respected wellness experts across the scientific community have praised the Mediterranean diet for its wellbeing-boosting protection against the most threatening diseases such as cardiovascular disease and tumours. However, this eating model seems to crack under the weight of the economic crisis, and is too pricy to be included in the food trolley of millions of families worldwide.
According to a team of Italian scientists from the Research Laboratories at the Fondazione di ricerca e cura Giovanni Paolo II, the Catholic University of Campobasso, ‘Our hypothesis comes from a pretty simple observation.’ Marialaura Bonaccio who is the first author of the study says ‘We sought to see whether the increasing cost of the main food products and the progressive impoverishment of people could contribute to the obesity pandemic which has been affecting the countries of the Mediterranean area during the recent years, including Italy’.
For the study, researchers analysed over 13,000 people who had been recruited since 2005 to investigate the relationship between genetic and environmental factors in the onset of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease and tumours. The investigators examined the link between income and dietary habits, and evaluated this according to specific scores of adherence to Mediterranean diet.
According to Licia Iacoviello, chairperson of the Moli-sani Project where the investigation took place, ‘We found that low-income people showed the poorest adherence to Mediterranean diet as compared to those in the uppermost group of income’. He added ‘In particular, high-income people have 72% odds of being in the top category of adherence to Mediterranean diet. This means a less healthy diet for the poorest, who are more likely to get pre-packaged or junk food, often cheaper than the fresh foods of the Mediterranean tradition. In the lowest-income category we have recorded a higher prevalence of obesity as well. Low-income people report 36 % of obesity compared to 20% in the uppermost income class’.
Director of the Research Laboratories at the centre of Campobasso, Giovanni de Gaetano, argues that small economic differences made ‘substantial differences in dietary habits and consequent health outcomes’. He concluded that ‘This is a very serious issue which shall foster a discussion on healthy food accessibility in terms of economic costs within those appointed to guarantee the rights to health to everybody, independently from socioeconomic status. Keep on gaining proofs on the beneficial effect of Mediterranean diet is no longer the only task. We have to be sure that everyone has the chance to take advantage from it.’
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