**Dietary Habits**

1. High consumption of minimally-processed, local and seasonal plant food (whole-grain cereals, fresh fruit, cooked and raw vegetables, nuts)

2. Daily fat intake ranging from 25% to 35% of energy (with saturated fat ranging from ≤7% to 8% of energy)

3. Daily intake of low to moderate amounts of dairy products (mainly low-fat cheeses and yogurt)

4. Twice-weekly consumption of low to moderate amounts of fish and poultry; up to seven eggs per week 5. Fresh fruit as the typical dessert, with sweets containing sugars or honey consumed only a few times per week

6. Consumption of red meat only a few times per month

7. Regular, low to moderate consumption of wine at main meals; approximately 1-2 glasses per day for men and 1 glass for women (optional)

8. Herbs and spices to season food rather than salt or fat

**Lifestyles** 1. Regular daily physical activity

2. Enjoy meals with others (family and friends)

> Adapted from [3].

The traditional Mediterranean diet originated in the olive- and grapevine-growing areas of the Mediterranean region and has a strong cultural association with these areas. It is characterized by a high intake of plant-based foods (cereals, fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts) and olive oil; a moderate intake of fish and poultry; a low to moderate intake of red wine; and a low intake of dairy products (principally yogur<sup>t</sup> and cheese), red meat, processed meats and sweets (to which fresh fruit is often substituted). Social and cultural factors closely associated with the traditional Mediterranean diet, including shared eating practices, post-meal siestas (afternoon naps) and lengthy meal times, are also thought to contribute to the attributed positive health effects recorded in the Mediterranean region. However, the Mediterranean diet varies by country and region, despite the common traits, due to the climatic, cultural and religious differences among southern European, northern African and eastern Mediterranean populations [4].

*Foods* **2020**, *9*, 940

The New Nordic Diet was developed in 2004 by scientists, nutritionists and chefs to address the growing overweight population and obesity rates, as well as the unsustainable farming systems in the Nordic countries (Table 3).


This dietary style shares many characteristics with the Mediterranean diet, but comprises traditional foods from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden (please visit the Baltic Sea Diet Pyramid created by the Finnish Heart Association, the Finnish Diabetes Association and the University of Eastern Finland at www.helsinkitime.fi). Staple components of the New Nordic Diet include whole grain cereals (barley, oats and rye), vegetables (cabbage, tubers and root vegetables),legumes (mainly beans and peas), berries and fruit, nuts and seeds, and fish (herring, mackerel and salmon). A notable point of difference is the use of rapeseed (canola) oil instead of olive oil, rich in α-linolenic acid (a type of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid). The Nordic diet is also characterized by a moderate consumption of dairy products and eggs, as well as a low intake of processed foods,sweets (including added sugars and sweetened beverages) and red meat. Not least, the Nordic diet is predominantly plant-based and locally sourced, thus ensuring a more environmentally friendly productionwithreducedwastewhenconsumedwithintheNordicregion[2].

The health benefits of the Nordic diet have also been investigated—though to a lesser extent than those of the Mediterranean diet—and associated with improvements in risk factors for both cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. In hypercholesterolemic individuals, the Nordic diet improved their blood lipid profile and insulin sensitivity, in addition to reducing blood pressure [6]. In subjects with metabolic syndrome, the Nordic diet ameliorated the blood lipid profile with beneficial effects on low-grade inflammations [7], besides decreasing the ambulatory blood pressure [8]. These findings, based on randomized clinical trials, were partially confirmed in population-based studies and the association between the adherence to the Nordic diet and cardiometabolic risk factors is still equivocal [9]. Adherence to the Nordic diet was also inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes [10] and also induced weight loss in centrally obese men and women [11]. However, despite the fact that studies have shown that Nordic diet has beneficial effects on the risk factors for diabetes, such as obesity and low-grade inflammation, evidence on the long-term impact of adherence to the Nordic diet on diabetes prevalence and incidence requires larger prospective studies [12].

In conclusion, we have to take into account that the adherence to Mediterranean and Nordic diet may not always be high in the southern and northern European populations, respectively. In other words, the prevalence and mortality rate of cardiovascular disease and diabetes can be high in some of these countries (Figures 1 and 2). Therefore, to assess the adherence to both diets is pivotal in order to evaluate their predictive ability on specific risk factors and biomarkers, by powerful tools such as the Mediterranean diet score [13] and the Baltic Sea diet score [14].

**Figure 1.** Age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 population in 2014—ischemic heart diseases (both sexes) in selected European countries (from: WHO Mortality Database, https://apps.who.int/ healthinfo/statistics/mortality/whodpms/).

**Figure 2.** Age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 population—diabetes mellitus (both sexes) in selected European countries (from: WHO Mortality Database, https://apps.who.int/healthinfo/statistics/ mortality/whodpms/).

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, M.I.; data curation, M.I., S.V. and E.M.V.; writing—original draft preparation, M.I.; writing—review and editing, M.I., S.V. and E.M.V. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
