Local food and cardioprotection: the role of phytochemicals.

For decades, most of the attention of nutritionists and health professionals has focused on the impact of the major dietary components, such as the amounts and types of fats, proteins, carbohydrates and fibers, on human health. However, interest in the role of minor components is rapidly growing. Many constituents of plants are non-nutritional compounds that play key roles in plant physiology and interactions with the environment. Over the past few years, we performed human studies to ascertain the health effects of Mediterranean foods such as extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes. Recently, we became interested in endothelial dysfunction and its implications in aging. To study the effects of local food plants on vascular function, plants were collected in Southern Italy. Extracts were first tested for their antioxidant activity in a variety of assays. The effects on the production of vasorelaxant factors were then investigated in cell culture. Finally, aged rats were fed with a wild artichoke extract and their vasomotion responsiveness was evaluated. In synthesis, the data uniformly demonstrate that phytochemical components of the Mediterranean diet exert cardioprotective effects whose mechanisms are being progressively elucidated.

Mediterranean diet as a nutrition education and dietary guide: misconceptions and the neglected role of locally consumed foods and wild green plants.

In the middle of the previous century the Seven Countries Study first revealed the health benefits of the traditional Cretan diet. The Cretan diet was subsequently used as a basis to form the worldwide known 'Mediterranean diet'. This dietary scheme was visualized as a food pyramid, aimed to constitute a nutrition education tool and guide for the general public and scientific community. However, the way this dietary guide has been perceived by both the public and in certain cases by the scientific community may be oversimplified. From the nutritional point of view, some of the neglected parts of this diet concern the role of locally consumed wild greens, herbs, walnuts, figs and snails, all sources of n-3 fatty acids. The above foods with the addition of fish provide a n-6:n-3 ratio of 2:1 whereas in Northern Europe and the USA the same ratio is 10-20:1. Moreover, the flavonoid and antioxidant content of the traditional Cretan diet may have been underestimated. Despite the increasing knowledge on the bioprotective profile of the traditional Cretan diet, there is a need to revisit the way this knowledge is transferred to the public emphasizing the importance of some neglected food items and nutrients.