Photo taken in March 1998 in Barcelona, during the Grand Covian Awards Presentation. From left to right and from bottom to top: Flaminio Fidanza, Ancel Keys, Anna Ferro-Luzzi, Lluis Serra Majem and Antonia Trichopoulou.

Born in Perugia in 1920, in whose university he was Professor of Nutrition for 30 long and productive years, from 1965 to 1994. He graduated in Medicine from the University of Naples, and after postdoctoral training in Nutrition and Physiology in Rome, he returned to Naples as Professor Gino Bergami’s assistant, who assigned him fieldwork with Ancel and Margaret Keys. The Keys’ were in Italy for the first time to explore the relationship between the diet and plasmatic lipids in early 1952, beginning what would be a vital partnership with Flaminio Fidanza with the Seven Countries Study. The Mediterranean Diet was being defined, the same that today is Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. After a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, which allowed him to work at Professor Keys’ Laboratory of Physiology and Hygiene (as he himself put it “straightening out my Italian non-scientific way of thinking”) , he became the main researcher of the Seven Countries Study and an international reference in the field of nutrition. His contributions include the determination of body composition, the characterization of the Italian Mediterranean Diet, the role of nutrition in coronary artery disease, quantitative methods of dietary survey (including Fidanza’s own Mediterranean Adequacy Index, widely used in our Mediterranean Diet Surveillance System) and the publishing of fundamentals texts of Human Nutrition and Nutritional Status Assessment, widely used for those who are dedicated to the fields of Nutrition, Food and Public Health.

He himself defined the secrets of health, and said “La forma fisica è questione di moderazione e movimento. Io faccio 50 minuti di attività fisica al giorno: 20 al mattino, 30 la sera. Negli Anni Sessanta nel Meridione, alimentazione in puro stile mediterraneo, obesità e ipertensione erano inesistenti: abbiamo trovato un solo infarto su 600 individui esaminati. E’ tutto scritto nero su bianco nei nostri studi. Inattaccabile. Il resto sono polemiche di nutrizionisti improvvisati”. Y definía la Dieta Mediterránea como “E’ una dieta moderata, in cui alcuni alimenti caratteristici dell’ area mediterranea occupano un posto preminente, in modo da soddisfare tutte le richieste dell’ organismo, prevenire le inadeguatezze nutrizionali (sia per eccesso sia per difetto) e fornire i composti alimentari bioprotettivi. Come schema giornaliero di riferimento si può prendere quella degli abitanti di Nicotera, in Calabria, appunto negli anni ‘ 60: 465 grammi di cereali, 43 grammi di legumi, 46 grammi di pesce, 309 grammi di ortaggi, 42 grammi di olio vergine di oliva, 104 grammi di frutta, 294 millilitri di vino (un quartino al giorno), 47 grammi di latte (meno di mezzo bicchiere), 12 grammi di formaggio, 47 grammi di carne (la carne dunque c’ è: ne va mangiata poca, ma non eliminata), 21 grammi di uova. Per le donne quantità leggermente inferiori”.

Those who knew him and admired his erudition and eloquence, while his resilience and intransigence that got stronger with age. Always with a dry and Mediterranean sense of humour. A tireless worker and excited about science topics until his last days, active in various lines of research with Alessandro Menotti, his wife Adalberta –true expert in nutrition education-, Daniela Fruittini or his son Flaminio, among many others. Undoubtedly he has been and will be one of the greatest assets in the world history of Food Sciences and Nutrition. Since the mid 1980’s we would coincide at conferences and meetings, always discussing issues related to the Mediterranean Diet and nutrition policies. I remember an email of his from four months ago in which he ironically criticized the Pyramid and the Plate, proposing his own Food Temple; luckily we had the debate in a session of the last Barcelona International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet (please see report) and it unanimously concluded that the pyramid is more alive now than ever, discarding the plate as an alternative in our environment. He would have, like me, enjoyed the debate.

As Javier Aranceta said the other day “Surely he will keep working on updating the Seven Countries Studies and the design of a new Frontispiece of the Mediterranean Diet from Heaven”.

Our deepest condolences to his wife Adalberta, family and friends.

Rest in Peace.

Professor Lluis Serra Majem

Mediterranean Diet Foundation President

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Mrs. Michelle Obama

Mrs. Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States of America, will receive the award in recognition of her active and valuable work in promoting physical activity and healthy eating habits among children, in order to fight obesity among American children and adolescents through the Let’s Move program, launched in 2010. By sharing the principles of the Mediterranean Diet lifestyle with beneficial initiatives and environments that will favor a healthy future generation.

Mrs. Michelle Obama is the First Lady of the United States of America since January 20th, 2009 and has a long career dedicated to public service through various social initiatives. She is the first recipient of this award since its establishment.

For more information about the Let’s Move program, please visit: www.letsmove.gov

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José Mª Ordovas

Dr. Jose M. Ordovas receives the award for his contribution to understanding the interaction between diet and disease, confirming the close relationship that exists between nutrition, genes and the onset of disease. Through his studies he confirms that “the Mediterranean Diet is an excellent accommodation of the genetics of the Mediterranean population to environmental conditions, and is the result of the transmission, generation after generation, of eating habits that ensure greater longevity”.

Dr. Jose M. Ordovas is a pioneer in the disciplines of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics, Professor at Tufts University in Boston (USA), Director of the Laboratory of Nutrition and Genetics USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at the same university, and Scientific Director of the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA). He is also a researcher at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Spain. He has published over 500 scientific articles.

To date, the following have been honoured with this award:

1996     Elisabeth Helsing, Department of Health (Norway)

1998    Ancel Keys, Redescubridor de la Dieta Mediterránea con su trabajo “The Seven Countries Study” (USA) and Flaminio Fidanza, Università de Roma (Italy)

2000    Gregorio Varela, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)

2002    Antonia Trichopoulou, University of Athens (Greece) and Dimitrios Trichopoulos, University of Harvard (USA)

2004    Walter C. Willet, University of Harvard (USA)

2006    F. Xavier Pi-Sunyer, New York Obesity Research Center (USA / Spain)

X Aniversario de la FDM: Valentí Fuster, Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai Medical Center (USA / Spain)

2008  Carlo La Vecchia, Inst. Di Statistica Medica e Biometria, Università di Milano (Italy) and Silvia Franceschi, International Agency on Cancer Investigation (France)

2010   Serge Renaud, INSERM (France) and Michel de Lorgeril, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France)

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This year’s awardees are:

Millennial Olive Trees and Olive Oil Project Senia Territory, for highlighting and helping to preserve one of the pillars of the lifestyle, culture and landscape of the Mediterranean Diet: Olive trees. By promoting the conservation of a living monument, and with it, producing a fruit that is synonymous of life, health and economic and environmental sustainability.

CIHEAM (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies) in recognition to their valuable contribution to the dissemination of the values of the Mediterranean Diet through education and applied research in agriculture, food and rural development. By promoting the development of international cooperation in the Mediterranean region.

Mr. Magnus Scheving, for supporting and promoting healthy lifestyle habits among the young audiences through his TV show Lazy Town. To defend the values of the Mediterranean Diet lifestyle and thereby promoting a healthier future generation.

Mr. Magnus Scheving is the creator of the children’s series Lazy Town, broadcast in 128 countries, with an audience of 500 million homes and has been chosen as the face of the Let’s Move campaign, through his character as a super hero named “Sportacus”.

Ms. Ana Cristina Herreros for collecting and disseminating the vast oral heritage the culture and idiosyncrasies of the various Mediterranean countries. Uniting and expanding the cultural baggage that accompanies the Mediterranean Diet through stories and vivid expressions.

Ms. Ana Cristina Herreros is a philologist, specialist in traditional literature and author of novels and an anthology of articles on reading animation and narrative techniques. She is an editor and story teller in libraries, theatres, cafes, prisons, schools and public parks.

Ms. Almudena Rodriguez Sanchez-Beato in recognition of her commendable work promoting Mediterranean food products within and outside the Spanish territory. For her invaluable support for/with the FDM when in office as Director General, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Ms. Almudena Rodriguez Sanchez-Beato currently hold the post of Director General of the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Manufacturers, Importer and Exporters of Fisheries and Aquaculture (ANIE-CONXEMAR).

The Fundació Futbol Club Barcelona, “Som el que fem, som el que mengem” campaign, for transmitting the values of the Mediterranean Diet and awareness about the importance of a healthy diet and physical activity among the general public, disseminating a lifestyle beneficial to the health of everyone.

The awards ceremony will take place on March 28th, 2012 at the end of the IX Barcelona International Conference on the Mediterranean Diet: a healthy lifestyle to prevent obesity, at 8 pm at the Salo de Cent in Barcelona City Hall counting on the presence of the highest authorities of the city. The Grande Covian Award and the Mediterranean Diet Foundation Award will also be granted at the same ceremony. By invitation only.

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The four awards on the third edition are:

1-      Award to the Lifetime Career in the Field of Nutrition granted to Magdalena Villanueva Cabrera. Born in Peru, this midwife came to Spain when she was 18 years old and started to work in different hospitals in Zaragoza in the Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Units, and then in Madrid, in the emergency room at the La Paz Maternity Ward. 20 years ago she went to the Canary Islands and worked at the Canary Island’s Health Service Maternal Infantil Hospital as a midwife. She created the Canary Islands Breastfeeding Action Association and has since been a tireless fighter for the rights of children and their mothers. She coincided with Prof. Mataix in Las Palmas, where she coordinated support groups for nursing mothers and has sacrificed her personal life in giving her time and support to all those worried mothers. Thanks to people like her life nutrition begins the way it should: with breast milk.

2-      Best Institutional Initiative for Nutrition, awarded to the Mediterranean Diet Foundation, received by its President, Lluís Serra Majem. Since last November 16^th 2010, the Mediterranean Diet has been included on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the UNESCO. The objective of this initiative was to safeguard the vast cultural heritage that is the Mediterranean Diet and to share and disseminate internationally its values and benefits.

The Mediterranean Diet is a cultural, historical, social, territorial and environmental heritage transmitted from generation to generation for centuries, and is intimately related to the lifestyle of the Mediterranean peoples throughout their history. A legacy passed in a ceaseless flow of time and space, a living heritage, unique and outstanding cultural spaces, practices that promote respect for cultural diversity and human creativity, expression of sociability and communication between their peoples and individuals, the only way of rooting individuals to their places of origin, an integrative element of community with nature and history, a defence mechanism of agriculture and rural development, landscape and environment. And a full dietary pattern as well as benefits to individual and public health. From this conviction, Spain, along with Italy, Greece and Morocco, deposited at the UNESCO Secretariat the nomination that is already a reality, under the coordination of the Mediterranean Diet Foundation.

3-      Best Private or Corporate Initiative. To Coca-Cola Spain, received by Andres Urrialde de Andres, Nutrition Director, for the company’s continued support to the training of professionals and the impetus to the emerging area of hydration, and José Sanchez Peñate for innovation in the dairy sector, introducing olive oil as a fatty excipient pioneering line of dairy products.

4-      Best Researcher in Human Nutrition. Award that the Academy grants to the most productive and influential researcher from a Spanish institution working in the area of human nutrition. Awarded to Dr. Jose M. Ordovas Muñoz, Professor of Nutrition at Tufts University in Boston and Director of the Centre

During the session, the following doctors were named Numerary members: Cristina Campoy Folgoso of the University of Granada and Pedro Betancor León, of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, who spoke on the role of nutrition in metabolic programming during the conception and pregnancy (early nutrition programming) and metabolic surgery in diabetes, respectively.

José Mataix Verdú (Yecla 1941 – Granada 2008) represents one of the most important figures in the field of nutrition in Spain such as Grande Covian, Gregorio Varela, Marañon, Bengoa or Turró among many others, and his life was closely related to researching the Mediterranean Diet and Olive Oil.  After his tragic and untimely death, the Spanish Academy of Nutrition established the Mataix Awards, in its first edition granted a commemorative bust to his widow.

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Francisco Sensat

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Thirty experts from around the world were involved in the formulation of the guidelines based on a multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary and intersectorial effort around priority areas such as:

- Nutrition, lifestyles and health,

- Social and cultural aspects and economic issues related to the sustainability of the Mediterranean dietary pattern,

- Environmental impacts of the Mediterranean agro-food systems on natural resources and climate change,

- Contribution of the Mediterranean diet biodiversity promotion of Mediterranean agro-food systems.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED DOCUMENT

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The sessions brought together over 120 participants and ended with the CCNIEC awards, the Ramon Turró award given to Professor Emeritus Ramon Segura of the University of Barcelona for his distinguished career in the field of nutrition, and the award to Font Vella for the best initiative in the food industry.

The CCNIEC consists of all the research groups dedicated to food, nutrition and metabolism of Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic, including the Mediterranean Diet Foundation.

For more information: http://www.ccniec.cat

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Mediterranean Diet - Intangible Cultural Heritage

The transnational nomination was developed and presented jointly by Greece, Italy, Morocco and Spain and technically coordinated by the Mediterranean Diet Foundation. In Spain, this project was led by the Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, and Culture, and had the support of the autonomous regions, municipalities and the civil society as a whole through thousands of personal commitments and hundreds of associations.

The four countries that submitted the nomination are considering extending the declaration to other Mediterranean States that have already expressed their interest in acceding to the nomination and meetings have already been held in order to make this expansion a reality.

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World Food Day

With this mission and purpose of protecting the fundamental right of every human being access to food, below are some useful and practical tips to access health and affordable food for all:

Follow the Mediterranean Diet

Following the principles of the Mediterranean Diet, rich in fresh and seasonal vegetable origin foods is an economical way to maintain a healthy, varied and balanced diet.

Eat fresh and local products

Minimally processed, fresh and local foods are the most suitable as they benefit the environment and promote the local economy as well as being beneficial to our pockets.

Keep in mind the seasonality of food

Take advantage of seasonal food, especially in the case of fruits and vegetables, we can consume them in their prime, both for their nutrient content and their aroma and flavour.

Buy smart

Plan in advance what food items you need and how much. Writing a grocery list will help you make a smart purchase, ie. more nutritious and economical.

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