The hidden turning points of the Mediterranean diet: a tool for health and agro-food policies. Rating out of fifty years, and 22 countries

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a method to identify the radical changes in the Mediterranean adequacy index (MAI) trend for monitoring and modifying food and prevention policies. The development of a statistical solver demonstrates that the evolution of the MAI over time (1961-2013) in the EU countries, the USA and Japan is at least bi-parted. In most countries, often two successive conflicting tendencies emerge, whose intersection is signaled by a turning point. The framework of the “knowledge-based view” can help determine whether or not the slopes of the new trend are idiosyncratic with WHO objectives to prevent chronic diseases. Sustainably fighting against the rise in coronary heart disease (CHD) requires to incentive both demand and supply of food products Mediterranean-intensive, revealing by solver use the MAI hidden turning-points . This study allows policymakers to improve their planning, prevention and monitoring capabilities through more exact projections concerning both Mediterranean food markets and emerging CHD risks.

Keywords

• food and life styles
• knowledge-based view
• mediterranean adequacy index
• turning-point
• two segment regression
• value chain impact