ABSTRACT
The Mediterranean diet is well known internationally from the results of the Seven Countries Study in which the population of Crete was found to have the lowest coronary heart disease mortality rate compared to the other populations of the study. A chemical analysis of the diet of Cretans in comparison with the diets of the other Seven Countries Study populations gave interesting results. The daily meals included simple foods produced at home. Some of the main elements of the Cretan diet of the early 1960s have been used by developed nations in setting goals for dietary changes in their own populations. The antioxidant capacity is, however, influenced by the level of antioxidant substances in the diet. The Mediterranean diet, and more specifically the Cretan diet, has been known since the early 1960s to contain more fruits, vegetables, and fish, and less meat and dairy products compared to diets in Northern Europe and the USA.
