diet

From artichokes and olive oil to in-vitro meat and plant-based charcuterie at Alimentaria food fair

The food cultivated for hundreds of years here has become famous across the world for its sumptuous flavours and health benefits

Barcelona representatives aimed to make the Catalan capital a “veg-friendly” city this Tuesday in an unexpected proposal. The proposal launched by the city’s economy commission received support across almost all of the city council parties, and hopes that Barcelona can become a “friend of vegan and vegetarian culture”. With this, the proposal includes plans to support more businesses and individuals looking to benefit from including more “veg-friendly” options. Additionally, the commission’s proposal includes plans to publish a list of stores and restaurants in Barcelona that are helping people who are vegan, vegetarian, or just want to reduce the amount of meat and animal products they consume. To make it a reality, Barcelona will establish a BCN VEGPoint which will serve as a support and networking centre for businesses looking to become more veg-friendly.

The health benefits of the Mediterranean diet have been endorsed by two new research projects as part of the study group PREDIMED (Prevention with Mediterranean Diet). One of the projects concluded that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil reduces the risk of diabetic patients suffering from retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness amongst these patients, by 44%, as published in the journal ‘Diabetes Care’, coordinated by the Catalan University, Rovira i Virgili (URV). In the other study, published in the journal ‘JAMA Internal Medicine’, the Mediterranean diet was associated with a 68% relative reduction in risk of breast cancer. This study was coordinated by the University of Navarra and researchers from URV also participated.

People who follow a Mediterranean diet enriched with extra virgin olive oil will reduce by 40% the risk of having diabetes, and by 18% if the diet is enriched with nuts. This is one of the main conclusions of a scientific study conducted by 18 research centres throughout Spain on 3,500 people. Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Director of this study, said that such results would change the usual perception of diabetes prevention. The Mediterranean diet is not solely efficient against diabetes. Indeed, the results showed that following such a diet also reduced by 30% the chances of contracting cardiovascular diseases.

Researchers from the Catalan Institute of Oncology have led the largest international study on breast cance4r and nutrition. The 8-year study has been based on 335,062 women between 35 and 70 years old. It has involved 23 centres in 10 European countries and it has been published in the ‘International Journal of Cancer’. The study concludes that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 6% among women in general and 7% in the case of post-menopausal patients.