Abstract
There is a close relationship between lifestyle behaviors and excess adiposity. Although body mass index (BMI) is the most used approach to estimate excess weight, other anthropometric indices have been developed to measure total body and abdominal adiposity. However, little is known about the impact of physical activity and adherence to a Mediterranean diet on these indices. Here we report the results of a cross-sectional study with 6672 middle-aged subjects with low to moderate cardiovascular risk from the Ilerda Vascular (ILERVAS) project. The participants’ adherence to physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form) and MedDiet (Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener) was evaluated. Measures of total adiposity (BMI, Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body Adiposity Estimator (CUN-BAE), and Deurenberg’s formula), central adiposity (waist and neck circumferences, conicity index, waist to height ratio, Bonora’s equation, A body adiposity index, and body roundness index), and lean body mass (Hume formula) were assessed. Irrespective of sex, lower indices of physical activity were associated with higher values of total body fat and central adiposity. This result was constant regardless of the indices used to estimate adiposity. However, the association between MedDiet and obesity indices was much less marked and more dependent on sex than that observed for physical activity. Lean body mass was influenced by neither physical activity nor MedDiet adherence. No joint effect between physical activity and MedDiet to lower estimated total or central adiposity indices was shown. In conclusion, physical activity is related to lower obesity indices in a large cohort of middle-aged subjects. MedDiet showed a slight impact on estimated anthropometric indices, with no joint effect when considering both lifestyle variables. ClinTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03228459.
Highlights
Obesity trends are increasing progressively and are especially influenced by changes in the lifestyle behaviors, especially a decrease of total physical activity and increase of caloric intake [1,2].Obesity’s growing prevalence is associated with a high social and economic impact, and according to the World Health Organization, there are more than 2.8 million annual deaths associated with diseases related to excess body weight [3]
Lower indices of physical activity were associated with higher values of total body fat and central adiposity (Table 3)
Physical activity practice was not related to lean body mass estimated by the Participants with lower adherence to Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) were mainly men, younger, with a higher body mass index (BMI), and a higher prevalence of smoking history than subjects who referred to higher adherence to diet (Table 2)
Summary
Obesity trends are increasing progressively and are especially influenced by changes in the lifestyle behaviors, especially a decrease of total physical activity and increase of caloric intake [1,2].Obesity’s growing prevalence is associated with a high social and economic impact, and according to the World Health Organization, there are more than 2.8 million annual deaths associated with diseases related to excess body weight [3]. The traditional dietary pattern from populations bordering the Mediterranean Sea is characterized by an abundant consumption of extra-virgin olive oil, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and nuts and moderate consumption of fish and seafood, fermented dairy products, poultry, and red wine [7,8]. This pattern, the so-called Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), exerts potential benefits for certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and some neurodegenerative diseases [9,10,11] and prevents mortality from cardiovascular diseases [12,13]. The associative and synergistic impact of the MedDiet and physical activity on anthropometric indices related to body composition has not been previously evaluated
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