[Nutrition and gastronomy in the Principality of Asturias]

Introduction: Asturias is renowned for its beautiful and diverse nature and landscapes and for its rich gastronomic tradition. Objectives: to understand the traditional gastronomic identity of Asturias and its relationship with food and nutritional intake and health indicators of the population. Methods: bibliographic search (PubMed, Google Scholar) with different combinations of keywords. Results: the gastronomic tradition of Asturias is characterized by a great variety of foods and dishes, with emblematic culinary preparations. Different reports and studies agree that it is one of the Spanish Regions with the highest food consumption, except for vegetables and cereals and derivatives. The energy intake is also among the highest, but with the highest rates of diet quality indexes. The high consumption of food and the high energy intake, together with an aged population with a high prevalence of sedentary lifestyles, could explain that the prevalence of obesity in the adult population of Asturias is the highest of all the Spanish Regions, with an increasing incidence of diabetes. Conclusions: it is necessary to implement public health policies aimed at improving food selection and health indicators. Furthermore, the study of the contribution of traditional dishes to the dietary habits, the nutritional intake and the health indicators of the population of Asturias would help in improving food selection.