Mediterranean vs. Nordic Diet: Recent Research Compares The Popular Eating Styles

The Mediterranean diet consistently gets ranked as not only one of the "best" diet options but also one of the easier ones to follow. Inspired by the diets of those who live—you guessed it—around the Mediterranean Sea, its initial science backing has roots in a study on heart disease risk in the United States, the Netherlands, Finland, Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece, and Japan that took place in the 1950s and 1960s.

But that region isn't the only area to have a namesake diet: More recently, the Nordic diet has been getting press as an alternative. It was created by researchers at the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with a founder of Noma, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Copenhagen and is based on the traditional diets in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greenland, and Iceland. 

So to begin, we have to ask: Did the review find a conclusive winner for "overall health"? No, it didn't. According to the researchers, "While longitudinal epidemiological studies support adherence to MD [the Mediterranean diet] as a way to prevent chronic diseases, ND [the Nordic diet] still needs more such studies because the current results are discrepant."

In truth, breaking out the diets shows many common threads—ones that link back to the basics of healthy eats. They're both technically considered plant-based diets (here's our explanation of how that's different from a vegan diet), with even protein largely derived from plant sources.

The big emphasis in both these diets is a reduced reliance on meat, instead eating more vegetables and prioritizing heart-healthy fish (hello, omega-3s) when meat is eaten. They also both encourage a focus on whole grains, picking organic seasonal produce where possible and cutting back on (or cutting out) processed foods.

The key differences in the diets, according to the review, come up on the topic of fats: "The main difference between the two diets is the primary fat source. Olive oil is the synonym for MD [the Mediterranean diet] while the ND [the Nordic diet] uses more rapeseed/canola oil."

Though that one ingredients swap may not seem like enough to matter, because they're used in cooking almost everything, it can add up. Olive oil, especially extra-virgin olive oil, is known for its health benefits thanks to high polyphenol content and other beneficial bioactives like omega-9 fatty acids. By contrast, rapeseed oil is less conclusively agreed to have benefits. It's popular in cooking for its low smoke point, but the way it's processed means most of it has fewer essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins—though cold-pressed, extra-virgin versions do exist and may be better.

Some of the other specific foods emphasized in each diet are also different due to the vastly different environments from which the diets began. In the Mediterranean, as mentioned, olive oil reigns supreme—but is it any surprise the same isn't true of the Nordic diet, where the colder climate means there's not a hope of cultivating olives?

In the Nordic diet, other key foods include berries, cabbage, apples, pears, root vegetables, oats, rye, and fermented milk—all of which have their own unique health benefits, though the writers of this review are careful to remind us that one isolated component of the diet doesn't necessarily decide its holistic potential. In the Mediterranean diet, the guidelines emphasize seasonal eating even more and go for cereals, vegetables, and fruit, and low-fat dairy products with only a few servings of fish or white meat per week.