The Mediterranean diet is in retreat even in Italy. What now for the foodies’ ideal? | Louise Gray

Child obesity is rising across Europe, says a new report, but it’s not all down to junk food

There was a touch of schadenfreude last week when it was reported that even in Italy, Greece and Spain, the home of the Mediterranean diet, children are suffering the same obesity crisis as here in the UK. They thought they were so clever with their olive oil and fish and fresh vegetables. They were laughing at us Brits with our chips and burgers and, er, more chips. But look! Fast food has got them too! No one escapes Ronald McDonald. The march of obesity has felled even the great Italian matriarch wielding her wooden spoon dripping with homemade tomato sauce.

According to the World Health Organization, Greece, Spain and Italy have rates of childhood obesity well over 40%. Dr João Breda, head of the WHO European office for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, pronounced the Mediterranean diet dead, face down in a plate of spaghetti.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2IPN92V