The Mediterranean diet (MD) is based on the dietary pattern found in the Mediterranean basin (Greece, southern regions of Italy and Spain), and includes high amounts of fresh vegetables and fruits, seeds, nuts, along with olive oil and whole grain cereals. Milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs, fish and poultry are consumed in moderate amounts, as is wine (especially red), with low amounts of red meat and sugary deserts (Martinez-Gonzalez et al., 2014; Tosti et al., 2018). This diet is abundant in minerals and vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals (Tosti et al., 2018). Although several of its components exerted beneficial actions, most likely their combined synergistic effects contribute to reducing the systemic inflammatory burden (Tosti et al., 2018). Some authors posit that MD exerts a hormetic effect, similar to caloric restriction, highlighting the Nrf2 pathway, regulating the pro-/anti-inflammatory processes equilibrium (Martucci et al., 2017). Epigenetic regulation was also hypothesized, especially due to components found in nuts and extra virgin olive oil, which were reported to alter the methylation of some genes related to inflammation, metabolism and signal transduction (Arpon et al., 2016, 2017).