A Mediterranean Diet Model in Australia: Strategies for Translating the Traditional Mediterranean Diet into a Multicultural Setting

Abstract

Substantial evidence supports the effect of the Mediterranean Diet (MD) for managing chronic diseases, although trials have been primarily conducted in Mediterranean populations. The efficacy and feasibility of the Mediterranean dietary pattern for the management of chronic diseases has not been extensively evaluated in non-Mediterranean settings. This paper aims to describe the development of a MD model that complies with principles of the traditional MD applied in a multiethnic context. Optimal macronutrient and food-based composition was defined, and a two-week menu was devised incorporating traditional ingredients with evidence based on improvements in chronic disease management. Strategies were developed for the implementation of the diet model in a multiethnic population. Consistent with the principles of a traditional MD, the MD model was plant-based and high in dietary fat, predominantly monounsaturated fatty acids from extra virgin olive oil. Fruits, vegetables and wholegrains were a mainstay, and moderate amounts of nuts and seeds, fish, dairy and red wine were recommended. The diet encompassed key features of the MD including cuisine, biodiversity and sustainability. The MD model preserved traditional dietary components likely to elicit health benefits for individuals with chronic diseases, even with the adaptation to an Australian multiethnic population.

Reliability and validity of a Mediterranean diet and culinary index (MediCul) tool in an older population with mild cognitive impairment

“…For example, with increasing tertiles of the MediCul score, there is a significant increase in healthy fats (and ratios of MUFA or total unsaturated fats to SFA), as well as dietary fibre, vitamin C and vitamin E, whereas carbohydrate as percentage energy declines correspondingly, and protein remains the same or decreases slightly. These directions are as anticipated for a ‘traditional’ Mediterranean diet, and macronutrient levels in the third tertile approximate a Mediterranean diet model proposed in Australia ( 50 ) . For example, the macronutrient proportions in the third tertile of MediCul score from the index tool were as follows: fat, 41 % of energy; protein, 15 % of energy; carbohydrate, 36 % of energy; and MUFA, 47 % of total fat.…”

Dietary Behaviours May Modulate the Association Between Common MC4R Genetic Variants and Obesity and Its Comorbidities: The 1000PLUS Cohort Study.

“…are consumed in very small amounts and come mostly from nuts, sh, and dairy sources (51,52). Additionally, the Mediterranean diet includes fat comprising between 35% and 45% of energy intake, in which monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) provide at least 50% of total fat content, mostly from the consumption of extra virgin olive oil (51).…”

Changing the Irish dietary guidelines to incorporate the principles of the Mediterranean diet: proposing the MedÉire diet

“…In Australia, a group of researchers employ a Cretan-based Med Diet protocol in dietary interventions in non-Med Diet populations to assess the effects on metabolic conditions (44)(45)(46) . Recently, this group has published strategies for translating the traditional Med Diet into non-Mediterranean settings, which include meal plans, practical strategies and examples to attain the key principles of the diet with foods that are available and accessible locally (47) . The Healthy Eating Pyramid in Australia (48) incorporates the principles of the Med Diet.…”

“…A recent study examining the association between dietary cost and adherence to the Med Diet in a UK population found that adherence to the diet was associated with marginally higher dietary cost, but that the potential economic barriers of high adherence would be offset by cost saving from reducing unhealthy food consumption (70) . With many scientific and media reports increasingly being published on the health benefits of the Med Diet (8,9,71) , the key principles and ways of incorporating it into everyday life are becoming more culturally acceptable in non-Mediterranean populations (36)(37)(38)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51) .…”