Protective role of the Mediterranean diet on several cardiovascular risk factors: Evidence from Sicily, southern Italy

6533b873fe1ef96bd12d5755

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Protective role of the Mediterranean diet on several cardiovascular risk factors: Evidence from Sicily, southern Italy

G Grosso A Pajak Antonio Mistretta S Marventano T Raciti S Buscemi Filippo Drago L Scalfi Fabio Galvano Giuseppe Grosso

subject

Male Settore MED/09 - Medicina Interna Mediterranean diet Health Status Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism Medicine (miscellaneous)Diet Mediterranean Logistic regression Settore MED/13 - Endocrinologia Health Statu Risk Factors Environmental protection Surveys and Questionnaires Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology Odds Ratio Prevalence Nutrition and Dietetic Surveys and Questionnaire Settore MED/49 - Scienze Tecniche Dietetiche Applicate Sicily Cardiovascular risk factors Body mass index education.field_of_study Nutrition and Dietetics Medicine (all)Confounding Health Survey Middle Aged Cardiovascular Diseases Hypertension Linear Model Female Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine Human Adult medicine.medical_specialty Logistic Model Population Cardiovascular risk factor Mediterranean diet medicine Humans Obesity education Life Style Aged Cross-Sectional Studie business.industry Risk Factor Odds ratio medicine.disease Health Surveys Obesity Confidence interval Cross-Sectional Studies Logistic Models Linear Models Patient Compliance business Risk Reduction Behavior Demography

description

Background and aims: Epidemiological studies conducted in European countries demonstrated that the adoption of a Mediterranean diet protect against clustered risk factors but those evaluating such benefits specifically in southern Italy are scarce. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the association between the adherence to the Mediterranean diet and cardiovascular risk factors obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. Methods and results: A cross-sectional population-based survey including 3090 subjects was conducted in Sicily, southern Italy. Food intake was evaluated through a validated food frequency questionnaire and adherence to the dietary pattern was assessed using the MedDietScore. Linear and logistic regression models were performed to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and respective confidence intervals (CIs). After adjusting for confounding factors such as age and gender, participants in the highest tertile of the MedDietScore were less likely to be obese (OR 0.35, 95% CI: 0.24e0.51), hypertensive (OR 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55e0.97), and diabetic (OR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.24 e0.77). Linear inverse relation between the MedDietScore and BMI (r2 Z 0.34, P < 0.001), waist circumference (r2 Z 0.17, P < 0.001), and waist-to-hip ratio (r2 Z 0.06, P < 0.001) was found. Conclusion: Despite the prevalence rates of nutrition-related diseases are high in Sicily, greater adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern is still associated with a better health status.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2014-01-01	Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.numecd.2013.09.020