Health-Promoting Effects of Traditional Foods

Food cannot be only considered a combination of constituents with different nutritional values but its relevance for humans can be fully understood by also taking into account other aspects such as history culture ecology and the environment. Overall assuming that access to food is secured for all people traditional dietary patterns are considered safe in terms of longevity healthy ageing and morbidity. Indeed healthy diets have been associated with a reduced risk and incidence of chronic degenerative diseases including cardiovascular disease type 2 diabetes metabolic syndrome certain types of cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. In general healthy dietary habits include a low consumption of refined sugars red meat and saturated fats as well as a high intake of fruit vegetables legumes low-fat dairy products and healthy lipids (from seafood). As an example the Mediterranean diet can be considered the archetype of a health-promoting lifestyle by virtue of the phytochemical diversity of its food components.