The Mediterranean diet is one of the best-known healthy dietary patterns.
But it is not the only way to eat well.
The Nordic diet uses very different regional foods and has also been associated with favorable long-term health outcomes.
Different foods, similar principles
Mediterranean-style eating typically emphasizes vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish and olive oil.
Nordic-style eating emphasizes vegetables and legumes too, but its characteristic foods include oats, rye, barley, berries, cabbage, root vegetables, fish and rapeseed oil.
Olive oil is replaced largely by rapeseed oil. Mediterranean fruits may be replaced by berries and other fruits suited to a cooler climate.
The exact foods differ.
Many of the nutritional principles do not.
Both patterns emphasize plant foods, whole grains and healthier unsaturated fats while limiting large amounts of processed meat and foods rich in saturated fat.
Does one have to be better?
There is no need to turn healthy dietary patterns into a competition.
The Mediterranean diet has an extensive evidence base.
The Nordic diet also has substantial evidence. A 2025 systematic review found greater Nordic diet adherence was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, while randomized trials showed improvements in several cardiometabolic risk factors.
The evidence does not establish that one of these diets is universally superior.
More importantly, a healthy diet needs to work in real life.
For someone living in Poland or Northern Europe, rye bread, oats, berries, cabbage and rapeseed oil may be more familiar and accessible than some foods traditionally associated with Mediterranean cuisine.
The healthiest dietary pattern is not simply the one with the most famous name.
It needs to provide nutritious foods and be sustainable enough to become part of everyday life.
