Most of the food and drinks advertised using the "Mediterranean" concept do not form part of the Mediterranean diet

Not all food and drink products advertised as Mediterranean, alluding to a healthy lifestyle, are in fact so. At least, most of them are not. These were the findings of a study published in open access by the researchers Mireia Montaña, a member of the UOC's Faculty of Information and Communication Sciences and Mònika Jiménez, a lecturer in the UPF's Department of Communication. The study concludes that the majority of food and drinks advertised using the "Mediterranean" concept do not form part of the nutritional pyramid of the Mediterranean diet.

The researchers analysed 1,219 advertisements for 103 food products and 541 advertisements for 109 drink products, which appeared between 2011 and 2020 in Spanish advertising. The results show that just 13.59% of the products that claimed to be "Mediterranean" had high nutritional values on the Nutri-Score scale. Of the others, 13.59% had very low nutritional scores, 29.13% had low scores, 25.27% obtained a medium score, and 19.42% had a medium to high score.

Mireia Montaña explained that the researchers spent considerable time examining the content of advertisements for food products, especially those aimed at children. An analysis of the most frequently used key works showed that many products are linked to the Mediterranean diet, creating the false sensation that they are healthy. Although these advertisements are not strictly misleading, both researchers believe the regulations need to be tightened. 

"According to Spanish legislation, these are not classified as misleading advertisements. But Spanish advertising law dates back to the 1980s and contains major inaccuracies, and is very vague about certain matters," noted Mònika Jiménez. "So, although some of the ingredients in these products fall within the scope of the concept of the Mediterranean diet, in reality, the advertising is misleading as only some ingredients count as part of the Mediterranean diet's nutritional pyramid. If you look at the product labels, there is not much there that is healthy. In other words, the claims do not consider the whole product."

Specifically, the food products most commonly claimed to be "Mediterranean" are tomato paste and sauces, followed by soups and ready meals. For drinks, 89% of the drinks, using the "Mediterranean" claim in the period studied, were alcoholic. And this trend has been increasing every year. "In 2011 six food products were advertised using the "Mediterranean" concept, by 2020 this had risen to 20. Furthermore, in 2020, just 30% of the products actually had high or medium-high nutritional scores. We see the same trend for drinks: 8 were using this claim in 2011, rising to 16 in 2020," said Mireia Montaña. "Unfortunately, we are finding more and more of these advertising claims with little foundation because it is what sells. Everything natural sells," said Mònika Jiménez.

A claim that can harm your health

One of the main reasons for encouraging people to eat healthily based on a Mediterranean diet is in order to combat obesity. Experts have been warning us for years that obesity has become an "epidemic" in modern society. According to the WHO, 44% of adults over the age of 18 are overweight or obese. Spain is no different: the 2020 European Health Survey in Spain found that 16.5% of men over the age of 18 and 15.5% of women are obese. The main cause is a diet based on products with poor nutritional values that are high in fat, salt and/or sugar.

"The Mediterranean diet has been recognized as a model diet with multiple health benefits that contributes to many of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals" said Mireia Montaña, who is also a member of the UOC's Learning, Media and Entertainment (GAME) research group. "Advertisers are aware of these benefits and use them as a way to get to consumers, but misleading language can harm consumers' health," she said.

As well as tighter regulations, the researchers also concluded that consumers need to be educated to understand nutritional labelling. "In the end, we are talking about food and, therefore, our health. But the nutrition sector is very lax, and this should not be the case, because poor nutrition leads to hospitalizations, obesity and illness," said Jiménez.

This research by the UOC supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, Good Health and Well-being.

Reference article

Jiménez-Morales, M.; Montaña Blasco, M. (2021). "Presence and strategic use of the Mediterranean Diet in food marketing: Analysis and association of nutritional values and advertising claims from 2011 to 2020". NFS Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nfs.2021.04.003

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