The Mediterranean per diem expenses has been chosen as the best per diem expenses in the world for the fourth consecutive year according to the American ranking U.S. News and World Report for its health benefits. This has been emphasized by Dr. Miguel Ángel Martínez González, Full Professor of the University of Navarra, author of the book ¿Qué come? (Planeta, 2020) and one of the world's leading experts on the per diem expenses Mediterranean. The expert has received the 27th award to the Scientific Trajectory in Food, Nutrition and Health, "Dr. Carles Martí Henneberg" of the high school Danone.  

The high school Danone has been promoting research for years in the field of health and nutrition and rewarding the scientific career of researchers who have made important contributions in this field area. During the event, the new challenges of high school were also presented in order to adapt to the needs of today's society: obesity, healthy ageing and sustainable food. 

During his lecture "From what do you eat? to what do you drink?" Dr. Martínez González presented scientific evidence from the SUN study (Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra) showing that the Mediterranean per diem expenses could reduce the risk of Covid-19 disease. He also stressed that this patron saint diet has emerged as a global strategy to fight obesity, rather than any possible 'magic pill', and expressed his concern about this unprecedented public health problem.

The world's population has grown from 100 million obese people in 1975 to 700 million. "Obesity makes coronavirus infection more frequent and more severe. The current coronavirus pandemic will probably not exist in a year's time, but we will continue to suffer from this gigantic pandemic of obesity, with excess weight causing more than 4 million deaths a year," explains Dr Martínez González. 

The obesity and coronavirus pandemics

The Full Professor of Public Health recalled that in the United States one in four people already suffers from severe obesity and in 2030 it is predicted that in some of its states 60% of the population will be obese. In Spain, the problems of overweight and obesity have also been aggravated by the consequences of confinement, such as a sedentary lifestyle or poor eating habits and "this excess weight already affects 70% of the population" adds the Full Professor.  

data In his discussion paper, he has provided new scientific evidence, unique in the world, on the protection of the Mediterranean diet patron saint against coronavirus infection. In the SUN study (University of Navarra Follow-up, with more than 9000 participants who have been assessed since 1999 with repeated measurements of their per diem expenses and other factors), it has been shown that the better the Mediterranean per diem expenses is followed, the lower the risk of Covid infection. 

He also presented another recent study, published in the European Heart Journal, co-authored by Martínez González, which showed for the first time that people who follow the Mediterranean per diem expenses have a series of characteristic molecules in their blood that help to predict goal the risk of myocardial infarction and stroke. 

Obesity, healthy ageing and sustainability: new challenges for high school Danone

During the submission of the award the new lines of action of the high school Danone were presented, which adapts to the needs and new demands of society, and has renewed its board board of directors. Dr. Luis Moreno Aznar, current president of high school, passed the baton to the new president, Dr. José López-Miranda, Full Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Cordoba. "The high school Danone takes as its own the three great challenges of today's food: obesity, healthy aging and sustainability", explained the new president, who added "today it is no longer enough for food to be safe for the population, it is necessary for it to be respectful of the planet, accessible to everyone in any region of the world and suitable for every stage of life."  

On sustainability, Dr. Ujué Fresán, the new expert at high school Danone, explained that "the food system is one of the main culprits in the use of resources and environmental degradation" and encouraged a change in eating habits that will benefit the health of this generation, as well as that of future generations. 

Another member of high school Danone, Dr. José Manuel Moreno, a specialist in child and youth nutrition, warned that "Child and youth obesity has become a public health problem in Western countries. Spain is no stranger to this status: between 30 and 40% of our children and young people are overweight".

Regarding the relationship between nutrition and healthy ageing, according to Dr. Leocadio Rodríguez Mañas "poor nutritional status is a risk factor for developing frailty, and it is occurring more and more frequently, if we add malnutrition and the risk of malnutrition can be present in up to 1 in 4 elderly people living at home".