Cretan Diet

The Cretan Diet had attracted the interest of the scientific community from the very first detailed world-wide dietary assessment by the Rockefeller Foundation in 1948 that offered impressive results.

Similarly the Study of the “Seven Countries” that followed shortly before 1960 from the American ANSEL KIS, showed reduced mortality and heart disease rates as well as reduced coronary heart disease and cancer effects related to the Cretan diet.

Furthermore, French researchers Serge Renaud and Michel de Longeril through the Heart Lyon study were able to show that the Cretan Diet in patients with acute myocardial infarction reduced mortality rate by 70% for the first 27 months after episode and by 56% mortality rate or 61% reduction in cancer cases after just 4 years of following the Cretan Diet, compared to the administration of the diet recommended by the American Heart Association.

The Olive oil is the main source of fat in the Cretan diet. The term Mediterranean diet was essentially introduced by nutrition experts to describe the nutrition of Crete, a nutritional model that prevails in all Mediterranean regions where olive trees are traditionally collected in the Cretan way.
Recently, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) officially recognised the cardio-protective effect on the human body, of the potent antioxidant (Hydroxythyrosol) deriving from olive oil. According to EFSA Regulation 432/2012, the daily intake of 5 mg Hydroxythyrosol and its derivatives (such as the Oleuropein and Tyrosol complex) prevents the oxidation of bad cholesterol and, consequently, prevents the formation of atherosclerotic plaque. thus protecting the body from the onset of cardiovascular disease.

This dietary claim can be used for an olive oil as long as the aforementioned amount of Hydroxythyrosol and its derivatives are contained in 20 grams of olive oil. Eladaki olive oil, is a reclaimed high polyphenolic olive oil by the nutritional health authority (EFSA).