MADRID, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Spain has lost points on their healthy diet, the very well-known Mediterranean diet, and is fighting with other less healthy habits, according to a study by a journal.
Spain fell below the Top 10 countries with the best health conditions, going from the 7th to the 23rd, according to a recently published study carried out by the journal The Lancet.
Fernando Martinez, director of the Spanish journal on food security and health Alimentaria, described the results as "devastating".
"We have fallen many positions in only one year", he said, explaining that "there has been a rise in alcohol consumption and tobacco and the rate of childhood obesity".
Cristina Ramos, director of the agency specialized in food and agriculture Gaia, told Xinhua that Spaniards had forgotten how to eat.
"The memory of taste has its roots in childhood and eating is a sociocultural responsibility", she explained, adding "in Spain, over the last 20 years, we have lost these concepts".
"Our children are the consumers of tomorrow", she stated, adding "if our children do not learn how to eat products from our land, with their tastes, they will not have those memories and therefore, they will not turn to them in the future".
According to Ramos, it is not only about eating specific products but also the way Spaniards eat them, which is part of a lifestyle changing in the country, from family meals with homemade products, low alcohol consumption (more wine than beer and distilled spirits) and sport, to more processed food, high alcohol consumption and a more sedentary lifestyle.
Martinez explained that "especially in cities, a stressful lifestyle undermines the attention paid on health and we are missing these calm family and friends reunions" around food and wine.
