Maintain Mediterranean Diet of Spaniards, Abandon new lifestyles.

                With more than 17,000 people aged 100 or over, Spain is the country with the greatest life expectancy after Japan, according to OECD data and latest census.
                                                                                                              The Spanish have the highest healthy life expectancy in Europe – and beat Australia, Canada, Norway and the USA as well.

         Maybe the Mediterranean diet, heavy on fruit, salads, fish and olive oil, is responsible for the low death rate from heart disease. Spain has the 3rd lowest level of years of life lost. It also does well on a number of cancers.                  

         A new study has revealed that Spaniards live the longest in Europe, to an average of 83 years old.  Most of the centenarians interview showed a Zest for life and an interest in past times from amateur dramatics to playing the piano.  Many also continued to carry out daily duties like farm work.
     
        The benefits of a healthy Mediterranean diet, rich in fresh fish and vegetables and olive oil, have long been known.

        Spanish people can expect to live longer than their European counterparts, according to a new Eurostat study, with an average life expectancy of 82.5 years.

The Spaniards are waiting longer to have children, and they might be living longer, study reveals.    

          Spain has one of the lowest fertility rates in the EU, along  with Portugal and Poland, at 1.32 births per woman and a Spanish region - Asturias - is the European region with the least children (only 23.6 percent), according to the study.

Perhaps Spanish women are delaying having children because they leave home so much later than those in other EU countries; the average age at which young Spaniards leave home is the highest in Europe, with 27.9 years old for women and 29.8 for men.
 
        The average life expectancy for a Spaniard is 82.4 years, a result that places Spain seventh on the list of the world’s countries where people live longest.

        A  new competitiveness report published by the World Economic Forum, which says  the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are the main reason for the nation’s high ranking.

        However, Spain finds itself relegated to 35th position once all the indexes of overall competitiveness included in the report are put together, which sees it placed behind Ireland (25th), China (28th) and Puerto Rico (32), on a list headed by Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

        The US doctor Ancel Keys, whose Seven Countries Study found a much lower incidence of cardio-vascular disease in southern Mediterranean countries than in Northern Europe or North America, featuring lots of vegetables and little 

meat eaten. by people and also their hard work in the fields. According to the Mediterranean Diet Foundation, its findings are “Olive oil, and abundance of foods of vegetable origin (fruit, vegetables, pulses and nuts), food made from cereals (pasta, rice): seasonal products that have undergone little or no processing, dairy products (mostly cheese and yogurt) moderate amounts of red meat, and  if possible  part of stews, a lot of fish, water and daily physical activity.” Centurian Gumersindo Cubo, 101, puts his longevity suggests,  a spoonful of honey a day to regular intake of gazpacho, a traditional cold Spanish soup made from tomatoes and cucumber.

        Unesco, which designated the Mediterranean diet,  an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity item after being petitioned by Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal, defines it as a kind of diet that “emphasizes values of hospitality, neighborhoods, inter-cultural dialogue and creativity, and a way of life guided by respect for diversity.”
 
        Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) notes that the region is shifting away from its traditional diet, and warns that the effects of this shift will go beyond nutrition.

   “The abandonment of traditional habits and the emergence of new lifestyles with socio-economic changes pose important threats to the preservation and transmission of the Mediterranean diet to future generations.”