Food: Italy's doing OK thanks to its Mediterranean diet

Milan - Italians not only live longer, but they are also one of the populations with the highest "healthy life expectancies" in the world. According to the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) only Japan (74.9 years) and South Korea (73.2 years) have done better than the Bel Paese (72.8 years, like Israel).
Nevertheless, there is a risk in Italy for "Generation Z", in other words under-18s, 1 in 4 of whom is overweight or obese. What are the reasons? The progressive straying from the Mediterranean Diet, which is a genuine "elixir of life", and a quickly spreading Junk Food diet. If you add to these data the Italians' lack of eagerness to exercise, possible pitfalls become evident, in terms of a rise in ailments such as diabetes (approximately 5.4% of Italians suffer), heart conditions (one of the major causes of death world-wide, with 20 million deaths in 2015) and chronic illnesses (which lead to 60% of deaths on a global scale). These are the data disseminated in view of the World Food Day - from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN), during the presentation of the 8th International Food and Nutrition Forum that BCFN is organizing in Milan on 4 and 5 December.