The Mediterranean Diet as a Model of Sustainability: Evidence-Based Insights into Health, Environment, and Culture

The Mediterranean Diet (MD) is globally recognized not only for its well-established benefits to human health but also for its potential as a sustainable dietary model from environmental perspectives. Primarily based on plant-based foods, olive oil, fish, and seasonal and local products, the MD stands out for its ability to reduce overall mortality and the incidence of chronic diseases. At the same time, it is a low environmental impact dietary approach, contributing to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, water savings, biodiversity conservation, and soil regeneration. This narrative review was conducted by searching the Scopus and PubMed databases, covering all publications up to 2011, applying predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, and ultimately including 33 studies. The paper provides a synthesis of the key elements that make the MD a paradigm of sustainability, analyzing critical indicators such as carbon, water, and energy footprints, land use, food waste generation, and carbon sequestration. It also addresses the decline in adherence to the MD, even in Mediterranean countries, highlighting the socio-economic, cultural, and behavioral causes, as well as the necessary strategies to promote its rediscovery and adaptation to contemporary contexts.