Association between Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Anthropometric and Health Variables in College-Aged Males.
Pablo Prieto GonzálezJorge Sanchez-InfanteLuis Miguel Fernández-GalvánPublished in: Nutrients (2022)
The present study aimed to verify the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and anthropometric and health variables. Four-hundred-and-ninety-five college-aged males aged 18-25 participated in this cross-sectional research. The KIMED (Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents) was used to assess the adherence to MD. The following variables were also assessed: body mass (BM), height (HE), body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (%FAT), lean mass (LEAN), abdominal girth (AG), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), oxygen saturation (SPO2), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), double product (DP), and fasting blood glucose (GLU). The results showed that adherence to MD presented a strong negative correlation with most of the anthropometric parameters (BM: r = -0.571; BMI: r = -0.614; %FAT: r = -0.558; and AG: r = -0.564), a moderate or weak correlation with most of the health variables (GLU: r = -0.407; SBP: r = -0.238; DBP: r = -0.217, and DP: r = -0.265) and LEAN ( r = -0.497), and a very weak correlation with WHR ( r = -0.090). Many anthropometric parameters (BM, BMI, %FAT, LEAN, AG, WHR) present significant correlations with health variables (SBP, DBP, DP, and GLU). We conclude that greater adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with healthier values of the selected anthropometric and health parameters. Since most of the anthropometric and health parameters present significant correlations among themselves, this finding could be useful in medical diagnosis, health monitoring, and risk detection. Based on the level of adherence to Mediterranean diet and the KIDMED found in the present study, and considering the prevalence of obesity in the Middle East, it is imperative to implement nutritional interventions with the target population of this research to prevent nutrition-related diseases and promote public health.
Keyphrases
- public health
- body mass index
- healthcare
- blood pressure
- blood glucose
- mental health
- body composition
- health information
- physical activity
- adipose tissue
- cross sectional
- type diabetes
- glycemic control
- left ventricular
- insulin resistance
- bone mineral density
- weight gain
- fatty acid
- risk assessment
- risk factors
- human health
- skeletal muscle
- quality improvement
- social media
- climate change
- highly efficient
- label free