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The Mediterranean diet has probably been the most studied diet since the early 1950s. American physiologist Ancel Keys coined the term since it was based on the dietary habits of those populations bordering the Mediterranean basin, particularly the island of Crete and southern Italy. The motivation for the early studies lay in understanding why these populations had greater longevity and lower occurrence of chronic-degenerative diseases and forms of cancer when compared with the peoples of Northern Europe and North America. Traditionally, this dietary regimen was based on the seasonality of foods and the consumption of unrefined grains, legumes, fish, vegetables, fruits, little meat and use of olive oil as a condiment. The purpose of this paper is to understand, based on current scientific knowledge, how the different nutrients present in such a diet can play a preventive role in the onset of today's most frequent diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]