Obesity, Mediterranean Diet, and Public Health: A Vision of Obesity in the Mediterranean Context from a Sociocultural Perspective

Abstract

Obesity is a disease that straddles medico-nutritional, psychological, and socio-cultural boundaries. There is a clear relationship between lifestyle and obesity, and today the Mediterranean diet in the Mediterranean area may represent an interesting corrective asset. However, we should not be under any misapprehension about the model’s capacity for action in non-nutritional terms. Our societies are experiencing a process of rapid change, and the Mediterranean area is no exception. The aim of this article is to present a view of obesity in the Mediterranean context from an open, mainly socio-cultural perspective, but from different points of view (medical, nutritional), seeking points of convergence and elements that contribute to the understanding of and approach to the disease in the context of the Mediterranean diet. As a public health and a multidimensional social problem, obesity must be dealt with in a holistic, open, and cross-disciplinary manner to ensure that it can be understood coherently. The only way to keep the usefulness of the Mediterranean diet within desirable limits will be our societies’ vitality and interest in rapidly adapting the Mediterranean diet to social change, thus providing valid answers to today’s needs.