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.

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.