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. 2020 Nov 25;17(23):8758.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17238758.

Updating the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid towards Sustainability: Focus on Environmental Concerns

Lluís Serra-Majem  1   2   3 , Laura Tomaino  1   4 , Sandro Dernini  2   5 , Elliot M Berry  2   6 , Denis Lairon  7 , Joy Ngo de la Cruz  2 , Anna Bach-Faig  8   9 , Lorenzo M Donini  10 , Francesc-Xavier Medina  8 , Rekia Belahsen  11 , Suzanne Piscopo  12 , Roberto Capone  13 , Javier Aranceta-Bartrina  1   3   14 , Carlo La Vecchia  4 , Antonia Trichopoulou  15
Affiliations

Updating the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid towards Sustainability: Focus on Environmental Concerns

Lluís Serra-Majem et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Nowadays the food production, supply and consumption chain represent a major cause of ecological pressure on the natural environment, and diet links worldwide human health with environmental sustainability. Food policy, dietary guidelines and food security strategies need to evolve from the limited historical approach, mainly focused on nutrients and health, to a new one considering the environmental, socio-economic and cultural impact-and thus the sustainability-of diets.

Objective: To present an updated version of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid (MDP) to reflect multiple environmental concerns.

Methods: We performed a revision and restructuring of the MDP to incorporate more recent findings on the sustainability and environmental impact of the Mediterranean Diet pattern, as well as its associations with nutrition and health. For each level of the MDP we provided a third dimension featuring the corresponding environmental aspects related to it.

Conclusions: The new environmental dimension of the MDP enhances food intake recommendations addressing both health and environmental issues. Compared to the previous 2011 version, it emphasizes more strongly a lower consumption of red meat and bovine dairy products, and a higher consumption of legumes and locally grown eco-friendly plant foods as much as possible.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; Mediterranean diet pyramid; environmental concerns; food-based dietary guidelines; nutrition; sustainability; sustainable diets.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consensus process for an updated graphical representation of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.
Figure 2
Figure 2
New Pyramid for a Sustainable Mediterranean Diet.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Mediterranean Dietary Pyramid.
    Willett W. Willett W. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 26;18(9):4568. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18094568. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021. PMID: 33925778 Free PMC article.

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