Spain’s Med diet comes up trumps yet again

The blue corner of Iberia stands apart from the rest of Europe

Spain is one of only a handful of nations around the world where heart disease is NOT the biggest killer… and it is all thanks to the country’s proclivity for the famously healthy – not to mention delicious – Mediterranean diet.

The fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, lean meats and lashings of olive oil that form the bedrock of Spanish cuisine sets the country apart from Europe when it comes to life expectancy, and is also to thank for the fact that heart disease is not the biggest killer…

Instead, for inhabitants of Spain, France, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Montenegro and the Netherlands it is cancer that is most likely to prove their ultimate downfall.

In a remarkable map pieced together by Globalpost, approximately 70 per cent of the world is a bright hue of pink – the colour denoting that heart disease is the most likely cause of death for inhabitants of that country.

The map relies on data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), which analysed what diseases caused the most deaths in every country in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, sadly, HIV and AIDS remain the biggest threat, while tuberculosis (TB) appears to bedevil many of the world’s poorer countries.

Cancer deaths – long seen as one of the biggest threats to mankind – are actually some way down the list globally, with heart disease far and away the biggest killer.

The map of Europe is particularly remarkable, with citizens of other Mediterranean countries such as Italy, Turkey and Greece also most likely to die from coronary problems rather than any other ailment.

Not so for Spain. The fact that throat and lung cancer is the biggest killer is obviously a cause for concern (and something that should trouble politicians still tackling often-ignored ‘No Smoking’ regulations), but being one of only a handful of nations where heart problems are not the biggest killer is cause for optimism.

The WHO suggested that the prevalence of cycling in Denmark and the Netherlands has helped cut heart attacks in those countries by more than a third in the past 50 years, whereas Spain’s (and Portugal’s) Mediterranean diet and laid-back lifestyle were to thank for the longevity enjoyed by most people on the Iberian peninsula.

In France, the message is a little more muddled. Despite throat and lung cancer being the biggest killer, heart disease is still rather high thanks to a diet that is rich in dairy and fatty foodstuffs.

Only Montenegro, on the shimmering Adriatic coast, can boast the healthy diet and lifestyle of Spain, as evidenced by the rather striking map.

Globally, pink covers most corners of the world, with HIV and AIDS dominant in sub-Saharan Africa

Globally, Mexico throws up a revealing anomaly – although the country has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world, it is cirrhosis of the liver (commonly contracted as a result of alcohol abuse) that is the biggest killer there.

As for Spain, the data confirms what many people have known for decades – life in Spain really is good for you, so if you fancy retiring to the sun then there really is nowhere better!