In 2020 the Mediterranean Diet was selected as the best diet of 2020 by the US News and World Report.

It’s a healthy diet with small portions and extra virgin olive oil at its center. This diet has a variety of health benefits including weight loss; the olive oil satisfies hunger and as a result people can eat less food.

Extra virgin olive oil, unlike most vegetable oils, can be eaten without detoxification and as a result it retains more of its natural flavors, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants etc. In 1958 physiologist Ancel Keys observed that coronary heart disease was more common in middle aged Americans than their European counterparts living in Mediterranean countries. He hypothesized and later studied the correlation between heart disease and diet and lifestyle. His study included seven countries – the United States, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Japan and Finland. The research showed that Greece and Italy, both countries following the Mediterranean diet had the lowest heart disease rates. Japanese citizens who also rated low among the participants have a diet which also consists of plant-based foods with the exception of unsaturated fat which Mediterranean people mainly get from olive oil.