The micronutrient content of traditional Greek foods

Diet diversification and …, 2005

Background/Aims: The traditional Mediterranean diet is frequently being considered as a prototype for dietary recommendations. We have investigated a weekly menu typical of the Greek variant of the Mediterranean diet to examine the compatibility with the nutritional recommendations of the Scientific Committee for Food of the European Commission, concerning macronutrients and certain micronutrients. Methods: A typical weekly traditional Greek Mediterranean menu was chemically analyzed and certain food constituents, like flavonoids were theoretically estimated. Results: The evaluated typical menu meets all the dietary recommendations for macronutrients. The daily energy intake is derived from dietary lipids (40.3%) and carbohydrates (41.4%). The ratio of ␣-tocopherol per gram of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the Mediterranean diet under investigation is around 0.4 mg, indicating a well-balanced diet. With respect to microcomponents, with existing recommendations of the Scientific Committee for Food of the European Commission, such as inorganic constituents, the investigated menu meets all the requirements. Conclusion: The diet that the Mediterranean populations developed many years ago, without any scientific input, appears to meet current dietary recommendations.

British Journal of Nutrition, 2015

Wild Gathered Food Plants in the European Mediterranean: A Comparative Analysis. Economic Botany 60 : [130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142]. The Mediterranean basin has a long and multifaceted cultural history and harbors a high biodiversity. Epidemiological studies have drawn attention to certain traditional Mediterranean diets. However, wild gathered food species, which are an important, but fast disappearing element of these diets, so far have been largely neglected in scientific studies. In this study we compare ethnobotanical data obtained from field studies conducted in Southern Italy, Southern Spain, mainland Greece, and Crete resulting in the identification of a core group of 18 culinary used wild gathered plant species. This group comprises species like Papaver rhoeas L., Sonchus asper L., S. oleraceus L., and Silene vulgaris L. We argue that the culinary use of wild gathered weedy greens evolved together with the neolithization process, since this offered the necessary ecological niches for them to thrive, thereby enriching and securing the diets of European agriculturalists. Especially wild gathered Asteraceae species seem to form a sort of proto-nutraceutical, which accounts for a significant input of biologically active compounds in the diet.

Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2006

The longevity associated with the Mediterranean Diet could be partly attributed to Mediterranean traditional foods, which this diet incorporates. A weekly menu, representative of the Greek traditional diet, was found compatible with the nutritional recommendations of the European Commission and with a high flavonoid content. The analysis of several traditional Greek foods indicated that they may contribute to the apparent health benefits of the Greek version of the Mediterranean diet. The methodology for the study of traditional foods in Greece is currently being expanded to 12 European countries in the ‘EuroFIR’ project. One of the aims is to define the term ‘traditional’ ensuring the classification and exclusive registration of traditional foods.

International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, 2012

The recent recognition by United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) of the Mediterranean diet as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity reinforces, together with the scientifi c evidence, the Mediterranean diet as a cultural and health model. The Mediterranean diet has numerous benefi cial effects on among others the immune system, against allergies, on the psyche, or even on quality of life, topics that are currently fi elds of research. The Mediterranean diet has an international projection; it is regarded as the healthiest and the most sustainable eating pattern on the planet and is a key player in the public health nutrition fi eld globally, but especially in the Mediterranean area. Moreover, this ancient cultural heritage should be preserved and promoted from different areas: public health, agriculture, culture, politics, and economic development.

Food & Nutrition Research, 2012

Background: Vitamin analyses are particularly important for estimating dietary intakes, determining nutritional status and regulating food labelling. Due to the increased popularity of ethnic foods, the vitamin composition of these foods is required to ensure that national food databases are up-to-date. Objectives: The key objective of this study was to generate new and reliable data on the contents of fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamins A (all trans-retinol), D 3 & E (a-tocopherol) and those that are water-soluble (vitamins B 6 , B 12 , C, biotin, folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin, and thiamin) in ethnic foods commonly consumed in Europe. Design: Thirty commonly-consumed ethnic foods in Europe (from Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, and the UK) were analysed using harmonised methodologies for identification of representative foods, sampling, data scrutiny and documentation to generate reliable data. Analyses were carried out using International standard methods. Results: Certain vitamins were present in appreciable amounts: b-carotene in tayer leaves (7919mg/100g), thiamin in frik dry (0.24mg/100g), riboflavin in mbinzo worms (0.79mg/100g,) and niacin in commercial soy patty (17.5mg/100g). However, retinol, pantothenic acid, vitamins D and B 12 were below detectable levels in the majority of the foods analysed. Conclusions: The majority of the foods contained most of the water-soluble vitamins but lacked fat-soluble vitamins. However, these preliminary data represent only a small number of foods per country and so no conclusions about vitamin imbalances can be drawn. Additional data are required on a much wider range of commonly-consumed ethnic foods to make firm conclusions about adequacy of diets.

Frontiers in Nutrition

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) lead to a dramatic burden on morbidity and mortality worldwide. Diet is a modifiable risk factor for NCDs, with Mediterranean Diet (MD) being one of the most effective dietary strategies to reduce diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Nevertheless, MD transferability to non-Mediterranean is challenging and requires a shared path between the scientific community and stakeholders. Therefore, the UNESCO Chair on Health Education and Sustainable Development is fostering a research project—“Planeterranea”—aiming to identify a healthy dietary pattern based on food products available in the different areas of the world with the nutritional properties of MD. This review aimed to collect information about eating habits and native crops in 5 macro-areas (North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Australia). The information was used to develop specific “nutritional pyramids” based on the foods available in the macro-areas presenting the same nutr...

Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2007

Traditional foods reflect cultural inheritance and have left their imprints on contemporary dietary patterns. They are key elements for the dietary patterns in different countries and consequently are important to accurately estimate population dietary intakes. However, this information is missing from most current national food composition databases. EuroFIR aims to enrich national food composition tables that lack nutrient data on traditional foods and to provide data on selected bioactive components. In this context, a common definition of traditional foods has been agreed upon for the classification of traditional foods in European food composition tables. A list of traditional foods, for which analytical nutritional and bioactive data will be provided, has been developed.

International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, 2001

Uncommon fruits and vegetables, namely leaves of Bauhenia purpurea Linn., Chenopodium album Linn., Fagopyrum esculentum Moench., and Gleichenia linearis and green and ripe fruits of Ficus roxburghi were analysed for their proximate composition, minerals and vitamin content, in vitro bioavailability of mineral, in vitro protein digestibility and two anti-nutrients, i.e. oxalic and phytic acid. Results showed crude protein, crude fat, minerals, crude fibre, carbohydrate, energy, calcium, iron, and iodine content was in the range of 1.74 to 4.93%, 0.23 to 1.38%, 0.46 to 3.02%, 0.88 to 5.02%, 1.46 to 14.46%, 15 to 76 Kcal, 19 to 355 mg, 1.22 to 6.2 mg and 0.5 to 5.16 mg, respectively, b-carotene, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and ascorbic acid content ranged between 169 to 3020 m g, 0.03 to 0.1 mg, 0.02 to 0.24 mg, 0.07 to 0.87 mg and 3.26 to 173.13 mg per 100 g, respectively. In vitro bioavailability of iron and calcium ranged between 4.62 to 9.23% and 7.30 to 63.48%. In vitro protein digestibility ranged between 9.78 to 14.48%. Findings of the study indicate that all the samples studied are good sources of micronutrients. To provide food security there is need to explore every possible source of nutrients.

Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 2013

Dietary traditions are an important part of cultural identity and the production of traditional foods may provide a considerable income to interested businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. Traditional foods, notably those from the Mediterranean area, earned a reputation for their nutritional quality, and should, therefore, be protected and supported. European law has recently provided a framework to promote the beneficial nutritional and health properties of foods, by allowing the communication of scientifically supported claims, after a standard evaluation procedure. European Commission Regulation 1924 of 2006 is intended to minimize consumer misleading and promote healthy dietary choices. In this context, we have investigated the potential of 194 traditional Greek foods to bear nutrition claims, by comparing their energy content and nutritional composition to the European specifications on a wide range of nutritional components, including protein, total fat and fatty acids, sugars, salt, dietary fiber, and certain vitamins and minerals. The average number of claims per traditional food was 5, with a range between 0 and 14. Overall, about 1,024 nutrition claims were potentially relevant for the 194 traditional foods studied. From those, about half were made on vitamins and minerals. Foods linked with the most claims were nuts and seeds. European Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods may provide an important tool for the sustainment of Mediterranean traditional foods, since those foods frequently have distinct nutritional qualities.