Italians, French, Greeks, Spanish, Croatians, and Israelis all enjoy high life expectancy, and good health with overall fewer health problems than their American counterparts due to their very simple common sense approach to food and lifestyle.
Italy is home to some of the best cuisine in the world. Food is deeply embedded into their culture and the classic Italian diet encompasses plenty of vegetables, olive oil, pasta, lean meats and fresh fish. This resulted in Italians having lower blood pressure and cholesterol than other developed nations.
There are two reasons why the Italian lifestyle keeps most Italians fit and healthy: We eat genuine food and we are physically active. We walk everywhere, whenever possible. Whether you live in Italy or not here is a list of habits you can adopt according to my new book : The Mamma Mia Diet!.
Italy is a country that has often been viewed as the healthiest for many years running. In fact, many people have been disputing this result because nothing is more important to Italians than their cuisine. Inhabitants of the island of Sardinia have many times held the title of the oldest living person through history.
Italy is the world's healthiest country, according to the CEOWORLD magazine ranking that uses data from the United Nations Population Division, the World Bank, the Lancet study, and the World Health Organisation, with Singapore coming at a close second.
Top 10 Healthiest Countries in the World (2021 Global Health Security Index): United States — 75.9. Australia — 71.1. Finland — 70.9.
Scandinavian countries are renowned for their healthy lifestyles, and Sweden takes it to the next level. There are tons of reasons why Swedes are some of the healthiest people in the world, but the Scandinavian diet is one of the most influential.
In Europe, Italians have the highest genetic diversity. The gradient of their genetic variability, scattered all over the peninsula, encloses on a small scale the whole genetic variance between southern and continental Europeans.
Causes are the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle choices such as exercise and getting enough sleep. However, obesity rates in Italian two-year-olds are the highest in Europe with a rate of 42%.
Southern Italians are closest to the modern Greeks, while the Northern Italians are closest to the Spaniards and Southern French. There is also Bronze/Iron Age West Asian admixture in Italy, with a much lower incidence in Northern Italy compared with Central Italy and Southern Italy.
Mediterranean diet
As the renowned medical journal Lancet points out, eating habits play a key role when it comes to Italians and longevity. A large part of the population can easily bring fresh and healthy food to the table, regardless of social status and income. This is what makes the difference.
A typical Italian diet consists of three meals in a day. The most common foods in the Italian diet include pasta, cheese, vegetables, olive oil, meats, and wine. Italians give a lot of importance to fresh ingredients.
They live with a sense that there will be time for everything. And this decreases the level of stress. Somehow even with their long siesta and with often being late Italians are not in a rush, and as a result they are much less stressed and happier than people in many other cultures.
Eating plenty of fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, nuts, and cooking with olive oil could explain the high life expectancy rate in Italy. The number of centenarians, or people that are over the age of 100, has tripled in Italy over the last 15 years.
Activity level – according to data published in Nature and captured from smart phone data, Italians walk 522 steps more a day than Americans. This extra 522 steps a day translates to over 3,600 steps a week. In short, Italians walk 95 miles more a YEAR than Americans.
Among the US-born, Whites had the lowest total obesity prevalence followed by Hispanics and then Blacks; but racial-ethnic disparities for immigrants were different.
Italians eat the most pasta worldwide – about 60 pounds of pasta per person per year. Most Italians eat pasta every day but they keep their portions in check. A portion in Italy is about a cup and the meal includes a small portion of meat and a large portion of vegetables and salad.
Australia ranked 9th out of 21 countries with available data for the proportion of people aged 15 and over who were living with overweight or obesity (65%) – this was greater than the OECD average of 60%.
Italians are known for having high cheekbones and a strong jawline, giving them sharp-looking facial features. What is this? Coupled with their dark hair and eyes, plus their auquiline noses, Italians can give off an imposing aura when they wear a serious expression.
Chart and table of Italy life expectancy from 1950 to 2023. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100. The current life expectancy for Italy in 2023 is 84.00 years, a 0.17% increase from 2022.
The most common Italian stereotypes include a love of pasta, expressive hand gestures, love of family, passion for football, that Italians have a passion for coffee, the opera, and Dante's Divine Comedy.
Uzbekistan has been named as the country which has the highest number of diet-related deaths in the world. A global study has found that the former Soviet republic records 892 per 100,000 people a year, due to poor diets.
Life expectancy for Black people was only 70.8 years compared to 76.4 years for White people and 77.7 years for Hispanic people. It was highest for Asian people at 83.5 years and lowest for AIAN people who had a life expectancy of 65.2 years.