Have the Eating Habits of EU Consumers Undergone Structural Changes? A New Model for Tracking Long-term Turning Points (1961-2013)

The ratio between the energy derived from the foods that characterize the Mediterranean Diet (MD) (Alberti-Fidanza, 2004) and those that don’t characterizing it (Mediterranean Adequacy Index or MAI), has been assumed as one of the most important public health predictor for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) (Alberti-Fidanza et al., 1999). Its long-term trend can be used to establish public health targets. Nevertheless, a recent article (Chang et al., 2017), using FAO data, evidenced that eating habits of most European countries have reduced the adherence to MD (1961-2011). The aim is to develop a model/method (a solver) able to detect the presence/absence of a turning point in the MAI trends of 22 countries in that period. The basic hypothesis is that, in the long term, the evolution of the MAI can be divided into two lines whose point of intersection can be a turning point. The ultimate goal is to establish the classes of food styles that have characterized these changes.