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- Title
Persistent Moderate-to-Weak Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Low Scoring for Plant-Based Foods across Several Southern European Countries: Are We Overlooking the Mediterranean Diet Recommendations?
- Authors
Quarta, Stefano; Massaro, Marika; Chervenkov, Mihail; Ivanova, Teodora; Dimitrova, Dessislava; Jorge, Rui; Andrade, Vanda; Philippou, Elena; Zisimou, Constantinos; Maksimova, Viktorija; Smilkov, Katarina; Ackova, Darinka Gjorgieva; Miloseva, Lence; Ruskovska, Tatjana; Deligiannidou, Georgia Eirini; Kontogiorgis, Christos A.; Sánchez-Meca, Julio; Pinto, Paula; García-Conesa, María-Teresa; Mesa, Maria D.
- Abstract
The Mediterranean diet (MD) has been sponsored worldwide as a healthy and sustainable diet. Our aim was to update and compare MD adherence and food choices across several Southern European countries: Spain (SP), Portugal (PT), Italy (IT), Greece (GR), and Cyprus (CY) (MED, Mediterranean), and Bulgaria (BG) and the Republic of North Macedonia (NMK) (non-MED, non-Mediterranean). Participants (N = 3145, ≥18 y) completed a survey (MeDiWeB) with sociodemographic, anthropometric, and food questions (14-item Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener, 14-MEDAS). The MED and non-MED populations showed moderate (7.08 ± 1.96) and weak (5.58 ± 1.82) MD adherence, respectively, with significant yet small differences across countries (SP > PT > GR > IT > CY > BG > NMK, p-value < 0.001). The MED participants scored higher than the non-MED ones for most of the Mediterranean-typical foods, with the greatest differences found for olive oil (OO) and white meat preference. In most countries, ≥70% of the participants reported quantities of red meat, butter, sweet drinks, and desserts below the recommended cutoff points, whereas <50% achieved the targets for plant-based foods, OO, fish, and wine. Being a woman and increasing age were associated with superior adherence (p-value < 0.001), but differences were rather small. Our results suggest that the campaigns carried out to support and reinforce the MD and to promote plant-based foods have limited success across Southern Europe, and that more hard-hitting strategies are needed.
- Subjects
GREECE; BULGARIA; SPAIN; ITALY; PORTUGAL; NORTH Macedonia; MEDITERRANEAN Region; EUROPE; MEDITERRANEAN diet; OLIVE oil; FOOD habits; VEGETARIANISM; MEAT; AGE distribution; HEALTH status indicators; FOOD preferences; COMPARATIVE studies; SEX distribution; QUESTIONNAIRES; PATIENT compliance
- Publication
Nutrients, 2021, Vol 13, Issue 5, p1432
- ISSN
2072-6643
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/nu13051432