Abstract
The Mediterranean Diet (MD), UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, has become a scientific topic of high interest due to its health benefits. The aim of this review is to pick up selected studies that report nutrigenomic or nutrigenetic data and recapitulate some of the biochemical/genomic/genetic aspects involved in the positive health effects of the MD. These include (i) the antioxidative potential of its constituents with protective effects against several diseases; (ii) the epigenetic and epigenomic effects exerted by food components, such as Indacaxanthin, Sulforaphane, and 3-Hydroxytyrosol among others, and their involvement in the modulation of miRNA expression; (iii) the existence of predisposing or protective human genotypes due to allelic diversities and the impact of the MD on disease risk. A part of the review is dedicated to the nutrigenomic effects of the main cooking methods used in the MD and also to a comparative analysis of the nutrigenomic properties of the MD and other diet regimens and non-MD-related aliments. Taking all the data into account, the traditional MD emerges as a diet with a high antioxidant and nutrigenomic modulation power, which is an example of the “Environment-Livings-Environment” relationship and an excellent patchwork of interconnected biological actions working toward human health.
Highlights
All over the world, the Mediterranean basin is famous for its historical architectural beauties and its agro-alimentary products
The Mediterranean diet (MD) is intended as that diet regimen in use in the Mediterranean basin, which is fundamentally made up of local fresh seasonal non-industrial ingredients with a nutrient-respectful cooking manner and composed of three meals a day with a very light breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner—the latter both articulated into three courses
As regards the nutrigenetic section, only those articles that help to put in raw (i) polymorphisms, (ii) the adoption of the Mediterranean diet, and (iii) the main related diseases were held in consideration
Summary
The Mediterranean basin is famous for its historical architectural beauties and its agro-alimentary products. This review describes the biochemical/genomic/genetic aspects involved in the positive health effects related to the MD with the aim to give a speculative/scientific explanation of its perceived beneficial properties under these specific aspects For this goal, the MD is intended as that diet regimen in use in the Mediterranean basin, which is fundamentally made up of local fresh seasonal non-industrial ingredients with a nutrient-respectful cooking manner and composed of three meals a day with a very light breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner—the latter both articulated into three courses. As regards the nutrigenetic section, only those articles that help to put in raw (i) polymorphisms, (ii) the adoption of the Mediterranean diet, and (iii) the main related diseases were held in consideration For these purposes, only the Scopus and PubMed public repositories were used, choosing 2010 as the year limit; occasional previously published articles have rarely become necessary as a historical basis for a better understanding of recent findings. We attempt to describe the nutrigenomic and nutrigenetic value of the MD by pointing out that most of these nutrients and their specific biological effects are known only in specific bio-systems under specific conditions and are valid for the determined genetic profile, ethnicity, age, and gender
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