Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Is Associated with Lower Abdominal Adiposity in European Men and Women

Abstract

Given the lack of consistent evidence of the relationship between Mediterranean dietary patterns and body fat, we assessed the cross-sectional association between adherence to a modified Mediterranean diet, BMI, and waist circumference (WC). A total of 497,308 individuals (70.7% women) aged 25-70 y from 10 European countries participated in this study. Diet was assessed at baseline using detailed validated country-specific questionnaires, and anthropometrical measurements were collected using standardized procedures. The association between the degree of adherence to the modified-Mediterranean Diet Score (mMDS) (including high consumption of vegetables, legumes, fruits and nuts, cereals, fish and seafood, and unsaturated:saturated fatty acids ratio; moderate alcohol intake; and low consumption of meat and meat products and dairy products) and BMI (kg.m(-2)) or WC (cm) was modeled through mixed-effects linear regression, controlling for potential confounders. Overall, the mMDS was not significantly associated with BMI. Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was significantly associated with lower WC, for a given BMI, in both men (-0.09; 95% CI -0.14 to -0.04) and women (-0.06; 95% CI -0.10 to -0.01). The association was stronger in men (-0.20; 95% CI -0.23 to -0.17) and women (-0.17; 95% CI -0.21 to -0.13) from Northern European countries. Despite the observed heterogeneity among regions, results of this study suggest that adherence to a modified Mediterranean diet, high in foods of vegetable origin and unsaturated fatty acids, is associated with lower abdominal adiposity measured by WC in European men and women.

Med Diet 4.0: the Mediterranean diet with four sustainable benefits

“…Computer-assisted modelling of individual diets identified that the most important foods that enable people to fulfil nutritional requirements (except for vitamin D) are those characteristic of the MDP (63) . Surveys have repeatedly shown that adherence to an MDP is also associated with a healthier body weight (64,65) , reduced waist circumference as a marker of central obesity (66) , and lower incidence of the metabolic syndrome (67) and type 2 diabetes (68,69) . The Mediterranean diet may positively influence the ageing process (70) by delaying the evolution of cognitive decline linked to Alzheimer's disease (71) and vascular dementia, which is often documented a long time before the clinical diagnosis of dementia (72) .…”

The relationship of serum leptin, serum TNF-α, plasma lipids and obesity parameters in patients treated with weight neutral antidepressants

“…As compared to individuals on a Mediterranean diet, those consuming a diet high in saturated fat have increased weight gain, a greater volume of visceral adipose tissue, larger waist circumference and more cardiovascular disease mortality. [9][10][11] Evidence suggests that diets high in saturated fat and relatively low in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids contribute to the pathogenesis of both mood and metabolic disorders during obesity. A successful reducing diet is one that an individual can adhere to for several months to lose 5% to 10% of initial weight.…”

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“…Şişmanlığın etiyolojisi multifaktöriyel olmakla birlikte, temel fizyolojik neden, fiziksel aktivitenin olmaması/azlığı ile yüksek enerji alımı arasındaki dengesizliktir. 6,14 Şişmanlık; KVH, kanser, Tip 2 DM gibi çeşitli kronik hastalıklar için önemli bir risk faktörüdür. 3 Akdeniz diyeti, hafif şişmanlık ve şişmanlığın önlenmesi ve düzeltilmesi konularında ilgi görmektedir.…”

“…Yüksek miktarda zeytinyağı, zeytin, meyve ve sebzeler, tahıllar (çoğunlukla tam tahıllı besinler), baklagiller ve yağlı tohumlar; ortayüksek düzeyde balık, orta düzeyde yumurta, kümes hayvanları ve süt ürünleri ile düşük düzeyde kırmızı et ve ürünlerinin tüketimi bu diyetin temel özelliklerindendir. 1,2,5,6 Dinî ve sosyal normlara ters olmadığı sürece, bu diyette şarap tüketimi orta dü-zeyde kabul edilebilmektedir. 1,6 Tek bir Akdeniz diyeti olmadığı vurgulanmalıdır; ancak her ülke-nin kendi kültürüne uygun olarak temel bir içerik etrafında çeşitlilik mevcuttur.…”

“…1,2,5,6 Dinî ve sosyal normlara ters olmadığı sürece, bu diyette şarap tüketimi orta dü-zeyde kabul edilebilmektedir. 1,6 Tek bir Akdeniz diyeti olmadığı vurgulanmalıdır; ancak her ülke-nin kendi kültürüne uygun olarak temel bir içerik etrafında çeşitlilik mevcuttur. 1,2 Akdeniz diyetine uygun beslenmenin sağlığa yararlı etkileri daha çok şişmanlık, kardiyovasküler hastalıklar (KVH), Tip 2 diabetes mellitus (Tip 2 DM), bazı nörodejeneratif hastalıklar ve kanser riskinin azalması ile ilişkilendirilmektedir.…”