Evaluation of Physical Fitness, Body Composition, and Adherence to Mediterranean Diet in Adolescents from Estonia: The AdolesHealth Study

Abstract

Unhealthy lifestyles, low levels of physical fitness, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) are associated with bad quality of life and the development of a wide range of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The current study aimed to evaluate the level of adherence to the MD in physical fitness performance and body composition parameters in children and adolescents of Estonia. Therefore, 413 adolescents (56% boys) from the city of Tartu completed the Mediterranean Diet Questionnaire (KIDMED) for analyzing the adherence to MD and performed the Alpha Fitness Test for measuring physical fitness and body composition. A 41.67% of low, 44.05% of average, and 14.28% of high adherence to MD was detected, without difference between genders (p = 0.747). In the Alpha Fitness battery, a higher performance was observed in all tests for boys vs. girls (p < 0.05). In relation to body composition, higher height, weight, and waist values were observed in boys (p < 0.05) and a lower body fat percentage (p < 0.01) without differences in body mass index (BMI; p = 0.906). The adherence to the MD is classified as average/low. Gender significantly influences all variables of the Alpha Fitness battery and anthropometrics measures excepting BMI. According the levels of adherence to the MD, no statistically different prevalence was observed for Non-Overweight (N-Oweight), Non-Overfat (N-Ofat), or Non-Overwaist (N-Owaist). Still, a risk factor for Overweight (Oweight) in boys with low adherence was observed in comparison to those with a mid-level of adherence to the MD.

Association among Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Cardiovascular, Obesity, and Anthropometric Variables of Overweight and Obese Middle-Aged and Older Adults

“…The same trend was found related with AMedDiet, especially for trunk fat, although differences were not significant. This confirms the results of previous studies whereby body composition changes were higher as related with CRF than with AMedDiet [76,77]. This finding is very interesting, as trunk fat was shown to have an independent association with BP parameters [58], especially with SBP, while BMI or PI, which related to body mass and height, were strongly correlated with DBP change [61].…”

“…Systematic endurance training, which is highly related with CRF [58,59], has an influence on these parameters [80]. In fact, according to the present results, when CRF is low, the AMedDiet is not a relevant factor [76,77]. Despite these promising results, questions remain.…”

Association between Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Physical Fitness with Body Composition Parameters in 1717 European Adolescents: The AdolesHealth Study

“…In order to correct this aspect, the BMI was complemented with the waist circumference and the body fat percentage. It can be observed how the results regarding waist circumference are similar to those obtained in various studies on European adolescent populations (21.51 cm vs. 21.1-21.7 cm) [27,28,31,33,34]. Regarding the percentage of body fat, the results show a great similarity with those obtained in several investigations (21.36% vs. 22-22.7%), although these were obtained by measuring the skin folds [28,29,33].…”

The Influence of Physical Activity, Diet, Weight Status and Substance Abuse on Students’ Self-Perceived Health

“…That the Mediterranean diet has been significantly associated with the weight status of adolescents, which, in line with other studies, highlights the importance of providing education on lifestyle and eating habits to prevent overweight and obesity in adolescents [77,78]. In fact, we must raise awareness among the community and families, as closer referents of adolescents, that unhealthy lifestyles, where there is a low level of physical aptitude and non-compliance with the Mediterranean diet (DM) are associated with a poor quality of life and the development of a wide range of noncommunicable diseases [90,91].…”