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Researching the Health of Greek Island Residents

greek island diet
The findings of a study carried out on the health of elderly Greeks living in Australia but originally from theĀ Greek islands, which focused on their eating habits and longevity, will be released in a few months.

This study, entitled MEDIS, was carried out by Harokopio University, Athens, Greece. The study is still ongoing, however some early results are proving very interesting.

Greek bio-statistics and epidemiology Professor, Demosthenes Panagiotakos, who is also head of the research team, reports that a common factor among the older participants in the study is a thrifty diet combined with a wide variety of foods.

The research in Australia was carried out by Katerina Itsiopoulou of La Trobe University in Melbourne, in collaboration with the dietitian Antigone Kouris who examined elderly expatriates from the Greek islands.

More than 2,100 interviews with elderly men and women from the Aegean (Samothraki, Limnos, Lesvos, Syros, Naxos, Ikaria) and Ionian islands (Corfu, Cephalonia, Zakynthos), along with Crete and Cyprus, show that the more traditional lifestyles are gradually being lost. This was especially the case on those islands ā€œinvadedā€ by tourism. Elderly people now follow a more western lifestyle with less exercise and a move away from a traditional Mediterranean diet, with visible effects on their health.

“Now we will conduct the same study on Greek expats from the United States to see if they have maintained the dietary habits of their place of origin,” said Professor Panagiotakos. First stop is Tarpon Springs in Florida, where many descendants of Kalymnian fishermen live.

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