The Country that Inspired the Mediterranean Diet Is Now Battling a Childhood Obesity Crisis. What Went Wrong?
More than 17,000 students will join school nutrition workshops as doctors warn childhood obesity is rising and only 10% of Italians follow the diet.
- In Naples, the Valter Longo Foundation launched nutrition workshops at schools, part of a regional initiative involving more than 17,000 students across 25 schools to address Italy's rising childhood obesity crisis.
- Doctor Valter Longo, director of the Longevity Institute, notes the traditional Mediterranean diet has largely vanished, with only 10% of Italians following it, as modern habits shift toward the "five Ps": pizza, pasta, potatoes, protein, and pane.
- In the Campania region, where more than 40% of eight and nine-year-olds are overweight, Dr Sonja Chiappetta, obesity specialist at Betania Hospital, treats severe cases including 17-year-old Salvatore, who weighs 170kg.
- Researchers are testing a controversial "fast-mimicking diet" on 300 adolescents to trigger a "metabolic reset," though Paediatrician Doctor Roberto Berni Canani warns restrictive diets could carry psychological risks for children.
- Italy, which became the first country in 2025 to recognize obesity as a chronic disease, now faces a World Health Organization report ranking its children among the most overweight in Europe.
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Specialists test drugs, school workshops and legislative changes in the face of a metabolic crisis that reaches early ages
The modern diet of the youngest has impoverished, focusing mainly on those that according to experts is the diet of the "five Ps": pizza, pasta, potatoes, proteins, bread
La Repubblica
Il Fatto QuotidianoThe survey published by the British broadcaster criticizes the eating habits of the Peninsula: In some areas of Campania more than 40% of the children between 8 and 9 years old are overweight. Only 10% of the population follow the Mediterranean diet.
As Italy was a healthy eating model, the Getty Images obesity explosion via BBC The day-to-day is not easy for Salvatore. At 17 years old, he weighs 170 kg and has difficulty walking. He can't tie his own shoelaces, and his Vespa scooter has difficulty supporting his weight — in a week, the tires burst seven times. "He eats all the time," says his mother, Anna. Salvatore is among the growing number of Italian children and teenagers living with o…
The country that inspired the Mediterranean diet is now battling a childhood obesity crisis. What went wrong?
For decades, Italy symbolised healthy eating. Fresh vegetables, olive oil, whole grains, legumes and fish made the Mediterranean diet famous across the globe. But a recent BBC report tells a very different story.In southern Italy's Campania region, more than 40% of eight- and nine-year-old children are overweight, making it one of Europe's worst-affected areas. The report follows teenagers like 17-year-old Salvatore, who weighs 170 kg and is wai…
The Mediterranean diet? In Italy it no longer exists. At least according to a BBC research according to which the number of children and adolescents living with overweight in our country is constantly growing. (ANSA)
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