The Management Board of Scientific Society of Olive Encyclopaedists (4Ε) in collaboration with distinguished experts on the subject, scientists, members of our company, Mrs. Antonia Trichopoulou, academician and emeritus professor of the Medical School of the University of Athens and Mr. Constantinos A. Demopoulos, emeritus professor of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry of the University of Athens, issued the following press release regarding the Politico magazine article: The Mediterranean diet was a lie and it is dead.
Politico magazine recently published (4/2/2025) an article by Mr. Alessandro Ford under the heading “The Mediterranean diet is a lie” which, in fact, concludes that “The Mediterranean diet is dead”.
Regarding what is published, 4E considers the following points necessary regarding the Mediterranean Diet (MD), of which olive oil is a key ingredient, the foundation of a healthy diet:
The birth certificate of the term MD is registered in 1960 in the ” Seven Countries Study ” (by Ancel Keys and his multitude of collaborators, among them distinguished Greeks). In fact, it was about the scientific recording and documentation of an evolutionary course of many centuries of the eating habits and lifestyle of peoples and geographical areas of the Mediterranean basin, with certain basic common characteristics, hence “Mediterranean Diet”. An additional key element is physical exercise.
The Mediterranean area is defined by common climatic and ecological parameters. This fact combined with many common historical experiences (e.g. the constant communication with other regions) contributed to the formation of certain characteristics, which are shared by all the traditional local food systems of the Mediterranean. The most important of these remains the extensive use of olive oil.
The all along serious scientific documentation of the Seven Countries Study that only olive oil of the various vegetable oils exerts a beneficial effect against cardiovascular diseases in contrast to animal fats which are atherogenic, exerted a huge influence in a period of promotion with official dietary guidelines of seed oils, full trans margarine, while at the same time in the Mediterranean they cut down the olive trees or abandoned the olive groves.
In the decades that followed, scientific studies convincingly proved that olive oil, which is the main component of MD, has, for example, an antiatherogenic effect and protects against cardiovascular and other diseases, but also that MD as a whole has a beneficial effect on many other diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, liver diseases, neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s), cancer, etc.
The result of all this was the registration of the Mediterranean Diet in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO (Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) following the submission of a joint nomination file with Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal.
The above medical findings began to spread worldwide, beyond the narrow limits of the Mediterranean countries, resulting in the continuous interest in MD, its global recognition and the steep increase in the consumption of olive oil, despite its high price compared to the cheapest competing seed oils. Globally, the consumption of 1.6 million tons in the 1980s has doubled to 3.2 million tons. In the early 1980s, the USA imported and consumed about 50 thousand tons, which today have exceeded 400 thousand tons, ranking it 3rd after Spain and Italy. 98% of US consumers are gradually becoming aware of the health benefits of olive oil, which is expected to increase the per capita quantity.
It should not escape our attention that the Politico article came at a particularly critical juncture. It is only a few weeks since olive oil is trying to recover from an unprecedented crisis from two years of reduced production due to drought, which has led to higher prices and lower consumption. Also, a few days ago the FDA (American Food and Drug Administration) approved a “health claim” for olive oil, equivalent to the European one, creating hopes for a new wave of international promotion of olive oil.
The term “Mediterranean” refers to a wider superset, which includes a multitude of specificities. Each country, each region, each village, each time of year has its own ingrained habits and “diets”. On the other hand, the Politico columnist also accepts it. However, these particularities constitute a single whole, the unity of the Mediterranean landscape for which Fernand Braudel noted that “everywhere one meets the same triad, daughter of climate and history: the wheat, the olive and the vine…”. The “Mediterranean Diet” condenses the enormous nutritional, health, environmental, economic, social, cultural value, not only for the peoples of the Mediterranean but also for our entire planet.
A standard of balanced nutrition, that of MD, which we must defend against the “steamroller” of globalized, homogenized, easy, fast and ultimately, as it is constantly proven, unhealthy food.
Perhaps the Politico columnist hasn’t realized that he’s being dragged into another slippery slope by defending the Nutri-Score food label, which imposes on consumers a simplistic and unscientific way of evaluating foods. Scientists in Greece persist in trying to save and spread MD, which is a living cultural heritage, by adapting it to the societies of the 21st century, certainly different from those of the 60s, but with the same and even increased requirements for proper healthy nutrition. Today, it has been proven that the Mediterranean Diet is not just a dietary pattern, but an entire way of life, which includes healthy eating habits, physical activity and social interactions. Fortunately, it is also strengthened along the entire length of the agri-food value chain from the olive groves, the “economically exploited ecological forest of the Mediterranean” (Nikos Psyllakis), to the consumer’s plate.