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VoteLobster t1_j1d7wom wrote

No, the Mediterranean diet refers to an approximation of what Ancel Keys and his team observed in the 60s in some parts of the Mediterranean (Crete, Greece, and southern Italy). That’s where the name comes from. It doesn’t refer to what people in the Mediterranean actually eat these days.

It’s also not necessarily a low-fat diet, since it’s quite high in olive oil.

If you look at the dietary guidelines from any developed country, it’s usually a close approximation of the “Mediterranean” diet just with a few different food choices depending on the culture (e.g. different types of grains or different types of oil).

sauce. Literally in the Wikipedia page

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BafangFan t1_j1dd65a wrote

Keys was a terrible scientist that sent us on the wrong trajectory in America, and across the globe. He maligned saturated fat, in part by showing that rabbits fed saturated fat would get heart disease - rabbits! How much meat is in a rabbit's natural diet?

The Greeks he studied were also very Orthodox Catholics, who regularly fasted. They fasted multiple times a month. That is a huge confounding variable that he chose to ignore.

Around the time that Keys argued red meat was killing Americans, other scientists were arguing that it was actually sugar and cigarettes causing heart disease. 70 years later, after a long low saturated fat period, look where we are today.

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