Obesity is one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. It increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension and certain types of cancer. Obesity also brings substantial direct and indirect social costs, putting a strain on a country’s healthcare and other resources.

Maltese men are among the most obese in Europe, with Britons close behind. The record is not much better for females. Maltese women lie third, just behind the UK and Latvia.

A medical journal recently published a report, Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet, which confirmed claims that the so-called Mediterranean diet (rich in olive oil, vegetables, fish, beans and white, not red, meat) reduced the rate of people who are at risk of heart attacks and strokes when compared with a low-fat diet. It found that almost a third of heart attacks and deaths could be prevented in people at high risk if they switched to a Mediterranean diet.

Despite Malta’s location at the geographical crossroads of the Medi­terranean Sea we do not, regrettably, follow a Mediterranean diet. Surveys of our eating habits have shown that our diet, influenced by history and culture, is deficient of fruit and vegetables, high on the consumption of biscuits, chocolates or sweets, with the most popular food at lunch or supper being pasta followed by chicken or beef.

As a 1986 World Health Organisation report put it: “The average Maltese diet is not a healthy one. It is especially rich in fats and sugar and low in fibre.” Matters do not appear to have changed.

One local nutritionist said this latest study highlighted the impact of diet on health and the discrepancy between the Maltese diet and a proper Mediterranean diet. Our coronary heart disease mortality rate, for example, was comparable to northern Europe.

As another nutritionist put it: “Our diet is a mix of being geographically Mediterranean, but culturally in­fluenced by our former colonisers,” a comparison which is supported by the similarly high incidence of obesity in the United Kingdom.

What is to be done? For anyone who is obese or overweight, there is no shortage of dietary advice available, especially in fashion magazines.

There are diets that forbid carbo­hydrates, or ensure they are not eaten within a short time of having eaten protein. For others, the preference is to eat normally for five days and then starve for the next two days. One famous actress has credited green tea for her svelte figure, while another has extolled the slimming effects of acupuncture.

Many of these so-called diets, however, have been shown to be ineffective, or in some cases even to have adverse side effects.

Both Government and society need to act to curb the epidemic of obesity. This means the implementation of public health information and education campaigns to encourage healthier eating and greater physical activity. Affordable, healthy food is widely available in Malta. As this latest study of the effects of the Mediterranean diet has shown, the simple answer may be for Maltese to be persuaded to alter their eating habits to a dietary regime which is truly Mediterranean, eschewing over-reliance on high consumption of meat, milk, dairy products, eggs, vegetable oils, salt and sugar.

This latest report underlines the need for health promotion campaigns to focus on the benefits of altering the balance of our diet and, most importantly, on eating less and exercising more for a longer and healthier life.