Implementing nutritional guidelines: a public health
perspective
An often-overlooked yet important limitation in nutritional research and in the development of guidelines is the
study of individual dietary patterns as determined by food
systems, food environment and the availability and
affordability of healthy foods.From a research perspective, Mediterranean cities present
unique characteristics in terms of diversity of small food
stores and public markets, whose accessibility is
paramount if we want to effectively stir dietary and lifestyle habits toward healthier profiles [77,78] (Fig.Within the Heart Healthy Hoods (HHH) project (https://
hhhproject.eu, funded by the European Research Council),
researchers are studying the association between the
Mediterranean food environment, adherence to the
Mediterranean diet, and related chronic diseases [78,79].Different urban characteristics relate to
heart disease and its risk factors including dietary patterns,
hypertension, diabetes and obesity [76]. 1).