A new model of the Mediterranean diet for an older adult, the creation of a Mediterranean plate-based model, and a comparative study with the Japanese traditional diet

The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid has been recognized as a good educational tool that conveys an ideal eating habit, multiple benefits in health, and a sustainable lifestyle. This diet was registered as the Intangible Culture Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO and is culturally important for people in the Mediterranean area. Recently, the public interest in a healthy diet has been raising because the rapid progression of the aging population and prolongation of mean life-span increasingly emphasized the importance of a healthy lifestyle to prevent diseases. Therefore, health national authorities must provide the right health information with easily understandable tools. Also taking over the tradition as it is can be important, however, it is sometimes needed to meet the current demand. In the Italian traditional course, each food is served on different plates. However, in some cases such as in a nursing home, it takes too much time for staff to prepare and serve a lot of dishes. Also, some older residents need more time to eat all the dishes in a traditional course. Therefore, the traditional serving way may be not adequate in this situation. This makes a large burden on staff in nursing homes and needs an alternative way to lighten those works. This paper aims to create a new food model which is a meal or one plate-based model from the weekly-based MD pyramid. The nutritional balance is based on the MD pyramid and Italian dietary guidelines. The idea of the design comes from the plate-based model such as MyPlate and Eatwell guide. The new plate-based MD model is compared to Japanese eating habits since both countries are facing similar concerns; increasing large older populations and succeeding traditional healthy food culture to next generations. This model is targeting the population aged over 65, to increase the awareness of a healthy diet while to reduce the burden of preparing healthy meals every day.