Today the relationship between food and health is well accepted. We understand that an adequate diet is essential for our health through all stages of our lives, allowing us to grow and lead physically active lifestyles well into old age. The nutritional habits of people in the Mediterranean region, often called the "Mediterranean Diet", is universally recognized as an optimum combination of exquisite tasting food and a positive impact on health, helping to fight many diet and weight related illnesses ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancers, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, cirrhosis, iodine deficiency disorders, nutritional anemia, high cholesterol and many others. The first observations of this diet made based on scientific studies were conducted in the 1960's by an American researcher of the University of Minneapolis by the name of Ancel Keys. Keys highlighted the association between the eating habits of the people of Southern Italy (often referred to as the "Mediterranean diet") and the low incidence rates of cardiovascular disease. Additional studies conducted over the following years by Keys and other researchers confirmed the validity of the Mediterranean diet (especially that followed in Italy) for its health-promoting qualities, not only in protecting the cardiovascular system but also preventing chronic and degenerative diseases such as arteriosclerosis and cancer. It has even been known to protect against hypertension, heart attacks, diabetes, thrombosis, and many digestive illnesses. However, the term "Mediterranean diet" can be a little misleading. In fact, eating habits vary greatly throughout the Mediterranean basin. While it is true that similarities exist between the Italian diet and eating patterns that people in Greece, Spain, or Southern France may follow, there are still notable differences. Especially pronounced differences can be found in Mediterranean countries such as Turkey or various countries of Northern Africa. Based on this information, it would be wrong to define the eating habits that led Professor Keys to draw conclusions and correlations between the diet he observed and the good health and reduced disease risk factors of the populations that follow it as the "Mediterranean diet". Keys did not observe and study the effects of the "Mediterranean diet", but rather the health benefits of the Italian diet, particularly the eating habits found predominantly in Southern Italy. The Italian lifestyle and eating habits satisfy all the main energy requirements established by the Italian Dietary Guidelines, as well as those of all western countries, allowing for healthy weight control. It is a varied and balanced diet that distributes food intake evenly throughout the course of the day, limits fats and dressings, provides sufficient quantities of fiber and antioxidants and complex carbohydrates, traditionally uses limited amounts of salt, and facilitates the maintenance of a healthy water balance in the body. The Mediterranean diet is based on abundant consumption of grains and their derivatives, legumes, fresh vegetables and fruits, and adequate quantities of fish, dairy products, and meat. Fats used to dress foods consist almost exclusively of olive oil, benefiting the body in many ways by helping metabolize fats and regulate blood cholesterol. This food model is therefore characterized by a low overall fat intake (less than 30% of the total caloric intake) and a particularly low saturated fat intake (less than 10% of the total caloric intake, helping prevent cerebro-cardiovascular diseases), the presence of elevated quantities of complex carbohydrates (starches), dietary fiber, and antioxidants (such as vitamins A, E, and C found mainly in fruit, vegetables, and olive oil) which protect us from the formation of free radicals in the body. The Mediterranean diet has been universally recognized as a complete and balanced diet capable of providing all the necessary nutrients needed to maintain a healthy body well into old age. Food must not only provide us with energy (supplied by proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) but must also provide our bodies with a series of indispensable nutritional substances like essential amino acids, vitamins, essential fat acids, and mineral salts. These are the elements the body is unable to generate on its own, so we must attain them through our daily food intake. There is no "complete" or "perfect" food that contains all of these elements in the proper quantities. As a result, the simplest and safest way to guarantee that our bodies are receiving all the indispensable nutritional substances it needs is to vary the food choices we make as much as possible by choosing foods from all the major food groups every single day, with entries from the grain and starch group, fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy, meat, fish, and eggs, and fats group. One other aspect that distinguishes the Mediterranean diet from the classic American diet is the habit of giving flavor to foods by using herbs and spices such as rosemary, basil, parsley, mint, garlic, and onion which stimulate the secretion of digestive fluids and can enrich the flavor to foods without adding fatty dressings such as butter or oil.