Whither the Mediterranean Diet?
Story excerpted from a report by by Joseph Shapiro for National Public Radio
When Hitler's armies and Axis powers occupied Greece during World War II, they pretty much stripped Greece of its food, which was sent to German soldiers on battle fronts across Europe.
By the end of the war, at least a quarter of a million Greek men, women and children had died from starvation.
Just three years after the war, American scientists arrived on the Greek island of Crete to help rebuild. The wartime survivors still scraped by on the tiniest portions of food, so the scientists were amazed by what they saw.
Scientists found the people of Crete in excellent health even after the war, explained Dr. Anthony Kafatos of the University of Crete's School of Medicine. He said that after the war, there was no malnutrition.
"The families here in Crete, they produced everything they wanted at home," Kafatos said. "And they had no supermarkets, no electricity, no refrigerator. So they had only seasonal foods."
But now, that kind of homegrown eating is vanishing.
In a large supermarket in Heraklion — Crete's biggest city — you get a sense of what has changed. Maria Strataki goes through the checkout line with a basket filled with fruit. She got some locally grown food — the watermelon and honeydew grown in Crete. But she also bought apples flown in from Chile and grapes from Italy.
Strataki said she shops here because it's easy. Everything is in one store and there's parking. And on a hot day, with the temperature over 100 degrees, this store is air-conditioned.
"They have supermarket and fast-food chains, now, all over," Kafatos said. "They have the television, sitting for many hours in front of the television; no physical activity, a lot of food — bad quality food."
As a result, people in Crete can no longer claim to be healthier than people in the United States. Most people in Crete no longer follow the healthy eating and exercise patterns of their grandparents.
In a study Kafatos did last year, he found half the women in Crete obese and almost 40 percent of the men. According to another study, 40 percent of kids are obese, as well. And smoking is a problem: About half of adults smoke.
There are some people trying to preserve Crete's healthy way of eating, like restaurant owners, food-makers and nutritionists who live in Crete. And, an American professional chef named Nikki Rose.
But Rose knows what people eat and how what they eat is changing. That even in Crete, it's hard to find people adhering to the Mediterranean diet.
"It's a lifestyle that's fast disappearing," Rose said. "You can't package 'Mediterranean' in a box and take seven steps to health and happiness by buying olive oil and drinking wine."
Article excerpted from a report by National Public Radio. To read or hear the full report, go here.
Photo credit: Monkeycat
