Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in a Sicilian

Download PDF
0 downloads 0 Views 875KB Size Report
Comment
Nov 13, 2017 - Giorgio Calabreseb, Teresa Gervasia, Giacomo Dugoa,c and Nicola Ciceroa,c ... in Italy, five in what was in Yugoslavia, two in Japan, two in Finland, one in ... Indeed, it is well known that high consumption of extra-virgin olive oils, which are par- ... and in coffee, depending on coffee varieties (Santini et al.
Natural Product Research Formerly Natural Product Letters

ISSN: 1478-6419 (Print) 1478-6427 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gnpl20

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in a Sicilian student population Daniela Metro, Roberta Tardugno, Mattia Papa, Carlo Bisignano, Luigi Manasseri, Giorgio Calabrese, Teresa Gervasi, Giacomo Dugo & Nicola Cicero To cite this article: Daniela Metro, Roberta Tardugno, Mattia Papa, Carlo Bisignano, Luigi Manasseri, Giorgio Calabrese, Teresa Gervasi, Giacomo Dugo & Nicola Cicero (2017): Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in a Sicilian student population, Natural Product Research, DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2017.1402317 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2017.1402317

View supplementary material

Published online: 13 Nov 2017.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 33

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=gnpl20 Download by: [Centre 2020 Medias]

Date: 11 January 2018, At: 04:09

Natural Product Research, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2017.1402317

Adherence to the Mediterranean diet in a Sicilian student population Daniela Metroa, Roberta Tardugnoa, Mattia Papaa, Carlo Bisignanoa, Luigi Manasseria, Giorgio Calabreseb, Teresa Gervasia, Giacomo Dugoa,c  and Nicola Ciceroa,c a

Downloaded by [Centre 2020 Medias] at 04:09 11 January 2018

Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, Messina, Italy; bDipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Universita’ degli Studi di Torino, Torino, Italy; c Science4Life s.r.l., A Spin-off of the University of Messina, Messina, Italy

ABSTRACT

Since the last decades, socio-economic changes have a key role on eating habits affecting the nutritional status and health of people, in particular children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to compare the diet of student population both normal weight and overweight and obese in order to understand their eating habits by comparing the different diets of the student referring to the Mediterranean diet. The study comprised 337 Sicilian students aged 9 to 13 years, 96 in primary schools and 241 in secondary schools, respectively, in three Sicilian cities namely, Messina, San Piero Patti and Ragusa. The variables studied were height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and adherence to the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) diet quality indicator. Interestingly, the results highlighted 2.67 MAI mean value for normal weight students while 1.27 MAI mean value indicating a decreased adherence to the Mediterranean diet in overweight students.

ARTICLE HISTORY

Received 8 August 2017 Accepted 5 November 2017 KEYWORDS

Mediterranean diet; MAI; student; Sicily

1. Introduction The growing popularity of the Mediterranean diet is explained by the large body of epidemiological studies that show how the incidence of coronary disease (CHD) and certain cancers (e.g. breast and colon cancers) is lowest in the Mediterranean basin. It has been suggested this is largely due to relatively safe and even protective dietary habits of this area (World Health Organization Study Group 2003; Trichopoulou et al. 2005).

CONTACT  Nicola Cicero  [email protected]  Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2017.1402317. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Downloaded by [Centre 2020 Medias] at 04:09 11 January 2018

2 

 D. METRO ET AL.

The beneficial effects of the Mediterranean diet on the incidence of cardiovascular events were first underlined by the Seven Countries Studies, coordinates by Ancel Keys, reporting the inverse correlation between such diet and CHD (Willett et al. 1995) and involving 12.763 men from 40 to 59 years old. The men were enrolled in 16 sub-cohorts: two in Greece, three in Italy, five in what was in Yugoslavia, two in Japan, two in Finland, one in the Netherlands and one in the United States. Death rates in the Mediterranean region were generally lower and adult life expectancy usually higher when compared with the more economically developed countries of Northern Europe and North America, particularly among men (Trichopoulou and Lagiou 1997). Observational studies and clinical experiences have highlighted a possible relationship between the Mediterranean diet and obesity (Lazarou et al. 2010). Furthermore, several studies underlined the benefical effects of the Mediterranean diet on childhood health (Bacopoulou et al. 2017; Castro-Rodriguez and Garcia-Marcos 2017). The ‘traditional’ Mediterranean diet is rich in grains, cereals (including bread), legumes, fresh fruits, vegetables, dried fruits, olive oil, spices and wine. Olive oil is the most important food of the Mediterranean diet. Also the beneficial properties and characteristics of all the Mediterranean key foods have been investigated (Dugo et al. 2014; Mallamace et al. 2014; Cicero et al. 2015; Clodoveo et al. 2015; Corsaro et al. 2015; Dugo et al. 2015; Bua et al. 2016; Corsaro et al. 2016; Cacciola et al. 2016; Gervasi et al. 2016; Pantano et al. 2016; Albergamo et al. 2017; Mallamace et al. 2017; Mottese et al. 2017; Salvo et al. 2017a, 2017b). Indeed, it is well known that high consumption of extra-virgin olive oils, which are particularly rich in phenolic antioxidants (as well as squalene and oleic acid), should afford considerable protection against cancer (colon, breast, skin), coronary heart disease and ageing by inhibiting oxidative stress (Visioli and Galli 1995). Important sources of antioxidant substances for the diet are also contained in tomatoes (e.g. lycopene) (Naviglio et al. 2008) and in coffee, depending on coffee varieties (Santini et al. 2011). Coffee beverages are widely diffused, are rarely missed at breakfast and often mixed with milk, contributing only few calories to the diet. Red meat (beef and lamb) is consumed in low amounts; egg consumption also is suggested as part of the diet in a moderate amount due to their cholesterol content (Naviglio et al. 2012). Intake of fish and poultry is moderate, and alcohol is consumed as wine with meals. Moreover, moderate consumption of milk and dairy products is reported and animal fats in the form of butter, cream and lard are not part of the diet (Contaldo et al. 2003). Fish products are also one of the foods that characterise the Mediterranean diet. In the literature, Mediterranean fish products have been studied, both their health characteristics and contaminants content, highlighting a low contamination in the Mediterranean sea (Dugo et al. 2010, 2011; Wågbø et al. 2012; Cangialosi et al. 2013a, 2013b; Lo Turco et al. 2013; Arukwe et al. 2014; Salvo et al. 2014; Di Bella et al. 2015; Naccari et al. 2015; Salvo et al. 2016; Cammilleri et al. 2017; Graci et al. 2017). Subsequent studies in Greece and other European countries showed that the overall Mediterranean dietary pattern was more important for longevity than the single nutrients (Trichopoulou et al. 1995; Bamia et al. 2007). The global protective effect of the Mediterranean diet could be mediated by a number of different risk factors (Sofi et al. 2007). Many studies have demonstrated a significant protection against chronic diseases from a global health lifestyle pattern which includes not only a high adherence to the Mediterranean diet but also to other lifestyle factors (e.g. physical activity) (Sofi et al. 2007).

NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH 

 3

Downloaded by [Centre 2020 Medias] at 04:09 11 January 2018

Recent studies showed a tendency among people in the southern regions of Europe to abandon the Mediterranean diet and to adopt a Westernised diet with consecutive reduction in quality of their diet and in some peculiar effects of the Mediterranean diet (Keys 1995; García Cabrera et al. 2015; Wirth et al. 2016). The Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) is a widely used diet quality indicator developed to compare the dietary intake of free-living populations to the traditional Italian-style Mediterranean dietary pattern. In this study, adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been evaluated in some Sicilian student populations from 9 years old (primary school) to 13 years old (secondary school), in three Sicilian cities namely, Messina, San Piero Patti and Ragusa by calculating their MAI values.

2. Experimental Experimental details related to this article are available online (see supplementary data).

3.  Results and discussion MAI values found in student population examined in this study are indicated in Table 1. The value of MAI for the Italian Mediterranean population is between 4.0 and 8.5 and the mean values of MAI in the population were found to be 2.67 in normal weight subjects and 1.27 in overweight subjects. In detail, normal weight students reported were 2.68 in primary school and 2.66 in secondary school while overweight students reported were 1.29 and 1.25 in primary and secondary schools, respectively. Tables 2, S2 and S3 show the contribution of the different components of the MAI, expressed as a percentage of total energy, in normal and overweight subjects. As reported in Table 2, cereals (40.5%), olive oil (12.3%), meat (10.1%) and fresh fruits (8.7%) were found to be the highest contributors to the MAI indexes among normal students, while the values obtained for overweight students showed higher contribution to MAI indexes by cereals (32.7%), dairy products (14.9%) olive oil (10.8%) meat (10.9%), desserts and sugar (8.6%). The reported data showed that adherence to the Mediterranean diet is inversely associated with increased weight across the student population examined. Indeed, this study highlighted that the MAI mean value was 2.67 in normal weight subjects while 1.27 in the overweight ones, indicating that adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet has a tendency to decrease, especially in overweight subjects. Data show that the observed MAI values are less than that observed in a previous study in the Italian Molise region (Giuseppe et al. 2008) and by Fidanza et al. 2004 (Fidanza et al. Table 1. MAI values of the student population analysed in this study. Normal weight students Messina S. Piero Patti Ragusa Mean values

Primary school Secondary school 2.97 (4.01–1.93) 2.56 (5.00–1.21) 2.62 (4.78–1.23) 2.93 (4.73–1.34) 2.47 (4.73–1.39) 2.50 (4.17–1.37) 2.67 ± 0.6

Overweight students Primary school Secondary school 1.34 (2.93–0.68) 1.29 (2.54–0.58) 1.16 (2.07–0.74) 1.27 (2.54–0.71) 1.38 (2.18–0.87) 1.20 (2.31–0.61) 1.27 ± 0.3

4 

 D. METRO ET AL.

Table 2. List of MAI contributions (% energy introduced). Cereals Legumes Potatoes Olive oil Vegetables Fruits and walnuts Fish Milk Dairy products Meat Eggs Sweet drinks Deserts and sugar Animal fat and margarine

Normal weight 40.5 ± 1.6 2.58 ± 0.4 3.91 ± 0.3 12.3 ± 0.6 2.64 ± 0.1 8.7 ± 0.7 3.05 ± 0.4 3.09 ± 0.2 6.26 ± 1.1 10.1 ± 0.8 1.04 ± 0.2 2.30 ± 0.3 4.16 ± 0.4 0.60 ± 0.2

Overweight 32.7 ± 1.4 p