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.
Highlights
The clinical manifestations of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) usually appear during adulthood
When stratifying the whole sample by the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), we found that 41.67% of the participants showed low adherence, 44.05% an average adherence level, and 14.28% a high level
In agreement with the results obtained by Ozen et al, which exhibited important differences in relation to a high and a low adherence in the population analyzed, with a clear trend to abandon the MD [60], the results found in the current research show a tendency to decrease the patterns related to the MD, since the average and low adhesion quantify more than 85% of the participating population
Summary
The clinical manifestations of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) usually appear during adulthood. The development of the asymptomatic phase can start at an early age [1]. NCDs, known as chronic diseases, tend to be long-lasting and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental, and behavioral factors [2]. An unhealthy lifestyle can contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases, the main NCDs in terms of premature deaths [3]. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4479; doi:10.3390/ijerph16224479 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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