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In this chapter the aim is to analyse the way the relationship between health and food has been changing at the same time as Spanish society itself. From the beginnings of the consumer society until the present day the modernization process has made its imprint on the guidelines public bodies have issued to the public on caring for their health and diet. Beginning in the 1960s with a welfare idea of a healthy diet, very typical of the decade, and meant for a population with nutritional problems, today we have guidelines for an overfed population. The social trends dominant in each historical moment are shown throughout this transformation process and the dietary recommendations have been part of the social change. However, the perceptions of the administration itself on what constitutes a healthy diet have also made their mark on the criteria. The modernizing nature of the paternalistic administration of the 1960s can be easily seen in contrast with the public bodies of the 1980s competing with the messages from the food and agricultural businesses. As the 20th century drew to a close, dietary advice was in keeping with a background dominated by considerations on the nature of social change and in which both public bodies and citizens trusted in the truths of science as a reference point for correct action. At the beginning of the 21st century, reflexivity and questioning of scientific power appear and also an increase in public preoccupation with food risks. Each stage is analysed relating historical background and dietary recommendations.

In the 1960s, the Spanish diet was a typical example of the Mediterranean diet. However, in the 1990s, Spanish consumers have moved away from that pattern. This has been the result of many different changes over that period of time. It is important to know how a Mediterranean country moves from a considered healthy diet to another which is not so and the reasons behind that change. There might be a number of policy implications to reinforce food consumption habits which are not properly taken into consideration when a country goes through economic development. Nowadays, public institutions in Spain are concerned about changing diets. They provide information and encourage the appropriate education to achieve those aims. Among other things, they try to promote typical regional products of high quality as well as to avoid unhealthy food habits, by providing nutritional educational programmes at schools, jointly with other policies.

This study aims to analyze the antioxidant properties of the Mediterranean diet and describe methods that are used in clinical studies to assess its role in reducing oxidative stress.

The review presents the results of interventional and observational clinical trials aimed at assessing the influence of the Mediterranean diet on the level of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, as well as the total blood antioxidant capacity.

The Mediterranean diet as a varied diet can be a better way to provide antioxidants to the body than supplements. Individual compounds administered in an isolated form can give the opposite effect to the expected, stimulating oxidative stress. The administration of antioxidants in the form of supplements instead of a varied diet is also associated with a lack of synergism of action. In studies on the importance of the Mediterranean diet in the reduction of oxidative stress, single markers are used to measure oxidative damage, the activity of enzymatic antioxidants and the concentration of individual non-enzymatic antioxidants. At the same time, the need to find markers that would assess the level of oxidative stress and the body’s antioxidant capacity more comprehensively is emphasized.

It should be taken into account that differences between in vivo and in vitro results may result from the fact of various factors, including genetic, smoking, intestinal microflora or diet composition. It is also necessary to answer the question about which marker or set of markers could in the most comprehensive way to assess the level of oxidative stress and the body’s antioxidant capacity.

The literature review shows not only the source of antioxidants in the Mediterranean diet. This paper also presents a critical approach to markers that allow the assessment of the antioxidant properties of the diet.

The paper aims to offer information regarding the degree of homogenization of eating times in the UK and Spain. The objective is to compare two societies by the ways their respective members organize the time spent on eating. Eating time organization is examined via two parameters: eating rhythms and their duration. The authors study the former by comparing daily meals timetables. Duration is studied via the time spent on eating and cooking.

Data from time-use surveys in Spain and the UK have been used for this work and various specific aspects of eating have been analyzed. First we consider the time devoted to eating; second, the timetables of the main intakes: third, the time spent cooking. Since in these sections it is noted that eating out is the behavior that most differentiates Spaniards and Britons, another section is given specifically to analyzing this behavior. Four categories were established by using a scaled variable to collect the time when the main activity is eating out: Home consumption, which shows are those that do not spend time eating or drinking out. Short time eating out: those who spend half an hour at most eating or drinking out. Average time eating out: those who spend between half an hour and one hour eating or drinking out. Long time eating out: those who spend more than an hour eating or drinking out. The comparison was made using respective sub-samples limited by age, between 16 and 65, as this is the potentially active population, integrated into the labor market in both countries.

British and Spanish timetables do not coincide. The British spread their important meals through the day, while Spaniards concentrate them between 1.30 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon (lunch) and between 8.30 and 11 o'clock in the evening (dinner). In the Spanish case this makes for important peaks of individuals eating at the same time: in the periods 2:20/2:30 and 21:10/21:20. In the UK they are spread more throughout the day and do not reach comparable maximums. In Spain an average of 20 minutes (23.2 minutes) more is spent on the main meals than in the UK. This difference is found mainly among those who eat at home. Differences in eating out are quite smaller for Britain and Spaniards. They make a greater collective effort to synchronize this activity and, therefore, to a greater extent the day's structure. In both societies an eating norm shared by their members that reproduces cultural aspects characteristic of each one is maintained. The evaluation of eating is in the time and place of meals. In the British case, compared with the Spanish one, there is a greater tendency to eat out and spend little time, without taking into account comparison with time spent going home to eat. This tendency points to a lesser value being given to the practice. If to this factor we add the differences in time both societies devote to cooking, longer in the Spanish one, the different nature of the social act of eating has in each society is highlighted.

Time analysis offers a new dimension to the exploration of the homogenization of food consumption. Other types of data used to establish international comparisons on food, especially data on food consumption, show a homogeneous image of food consumption among countries. Conversely, time analysis reveals a more heterogeneous image on this issue.

It offers the possibility to do multivariate analysis, which allows us to assess which variables are the most relevant to understand the amount of time devoted to the preparation of food.

This paper aims to evaluate effects of the fortification of polyphenolic compound mixtures of quercetin, caffeic acid, tryrosol and hydroxytyrosol in olive oil oxidation.

The authors measured olive oxidation initiated by copper using thiobarbituric acid reactive substance, as an indicator of lipid peroxidation.

Overall, most mixture combinations exhibited oxidation similar to olive oil alone. Some mixture combinations of polyphenolic compounds acted as antioxidants; however, as the concentrations were changed, they became prooxidant in nature.

In vitro studies have limitations for extrapolation to in vivo and clinical studies.

Such information will be useful in determining optimal concentrations and combinations of antioxidants for reducing rancidity and perhaps as models that could be used to modulate various chronic diseases that are associated with oxidative stress.

Olive oil, along with fruits, vegetables and fish, are important constituents of health promoting diets, such as the Mediterranean diet. Active ingredients include monounsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid and a variety of antioxidants including various polyphenolic compounds.

Over the last years, the olive oil produced in the Mediterranean countries has obtained growing success in international markets. Olive oil has benefited from the growing appetite of European and World consumers for products that are part of the so-called Mediterranean diet. For centuries, the olive crops were vital for communities that have occupied the territories bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this long historical drive, this chapter analyses changes that took place since the Second World War. It is recognized that in the decades that followed the end of the war the transformation of western agriculture and rural societies together with commercial and cultural transnational connections have accelerated. Even in peripheral areas, such as Portugal, different processes of globalization have developed, making it necessary to identify the mechanisms that have established the connections to distant territories. Focused on the Portuguese case, this chapter examines how olive oil has contributed to inserting this peripheral territory in the global trade network. A path analysis of this crop is used as a lens to observe how various factors (political, ecological, technical, commercial, social and institutional) have been combined to inhibit or stimulate the inclusion of these rural territories in the dynamics of globalization.

This study aims to examine the effect of socio-demographic, lifestyle and dietary factors on body composition among students from a private Lebanese University.

In this cross-sectional study, socio-demographic and lifestyle variables were collected. Height and waist circumference were measured. Inbody 720 (Biospace, Korea) was used to assess body composition (percentage body fat [PBF], visceral fat area [VFA], skeletal muscle mass [SMM]) and fitness score. Diet was assessed using the MEDFICTS (meats, eggs, dairy, fried foods, fat in baked goods, convenience foods, fats added at the table and snacks) questionnaire.

Out of 392 students, 3.1 per cent were underweight, 59 per cent were normal and 40 per cent were overweight and obese. In women,10.5 per cent adhered to the therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLC) compared to men (2.5 per cent), while 52.5 per cent of men needed dietary changes compared to 39.5 per cent of women, (p < 0.01). The most important predictors of PBF were being a woman, older age, lower fitness score and lower MEDFICTS score. The predictors of VFA were being a man, older age, less sleep time and lower fitness score. Being a man, smoking, higher fitness score and higher MEDFICTS score were predictors of SMM.

Upon university acceptance and as part of usual health screenings in universities, the authors’ study recommends screening of lifestyle and dietary habits of students, identifying students at risk and providing appropriate health interventions tailored to students’ needs.

This study is the first, in Lebanon, to assess the effects of sleep, stress, fitness and dietary habits on body composition of Lebanese university students.

During the pandemic, people have changed their diet and lifestyle, which are highly important to maintain health and well-being. This study aims to investigate the relationship between demographic, socioeconomic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics and adolescents' adherence to the Mediterranean diet (AMD).

In all, 2088 youth from Attica, Greece, 12–18 years old, were recruited in this school-based, cross-sectional study conducted in May–December 2021. The tools Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents, the Family Affluence Scale III and the Godin-Shephard Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire were used to estimate AMD, family affluence and the levels of physical activity (PA), respectively. Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, Chi-square tests, analysis of variance and multiple linear regression approaches were applied.

Empirical results showed that boys (p = 0.000), higher socioeconomic status (p = 0.034) and higher maternal education (p = 0.026) emerged as significant determinants for higher AMD. In addition, healthier dietary patterns (p = 0.000), PA (p = 0.000), more social lifestyle (p = 0.000) and night sleep duration (p = 0.000) were also positively correlated to diet quality. On the contrary, age (p = 0.000), screen time (p = 0.003) and the negative consequences of COVID-19 affected adversely AMD among adolescents.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first that highlighted the important role of several demographic, socioeconomic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics, together with the COVID-19 consequences to the AMD among secondary school children in Greece.