Nutrition science and policy research: implications for Mediterranean diets

Current attempts to persuade doctors and policymakers of the benefits of Mediterranean diets need to account for the pervasive and long-standing perception of nutritional issues such as nutritional deficiency. Global policies that are currently conditioning the agricultural and food industries are based on the prewar recognition of the benefits of animal protein for promoting childhood growth and the value of "balanced diets" for avoiding micronutrient deficiencies. Massive national experiments in food rationing during the war, widespread refugee problems after the war, and the threat of German and then Soviet naval blockades of imported food forced food security and animal production to the top of national priorities. Mediterranean diets can now be recognized as both limited in toxicity and abundant in nutrient and nonnutrient protective factors, but a coherent evaluation of these diets will be needed to shift the current simplified views of dietary needs in Western societies.