Abstract
Purpose: The main purpose of this research was to show if there are differences between the Mediterranean diet and physical activity in students from Romania and Spain. Material: The study was carried out on a sample of 567 participants, 149 of which (24.69%) are from Romania (Transilvania University of Braşov) and 427 (75.31%) are students from Spain (University of Granada ). To evaluate adherence to the Mediterranean diet we used The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED), and for the assessment of the level of physical activity, we used the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (PAQ-A). The reliability of the KIDMED was good (Cronbach’s α = 0.83) and for PAQ-A is 0.874. Statistical analyses were done through program IBM SPSS Statistics 22. The statistical indicators used in this study, were the following: standard deviation (SD), arithmetic average (X), chi-square test, Student’s T-test (t), percent%, Levene’s test, ANOVA One-Way. Results: The results of the variance analysis showed that there is no statistically significant relationship between the adherence to the Mediterranean diet and physical activity in Romanian students (F=0.517; p=0.598), or in Spanish students (F=0.255; p=0.775). Also, the results regarding adherence to the MD and PA was: poor adherence , n=31, (mean=29.06; standard deviation=3.723), average adherence , n=275, (mean=28.62; standard deviation=3.386), and high adherence, n=261 (mean=28.50; standard deviation=3.779). Conclusions: This study highlighted the fact that there are no significant differences regarding the adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the level of physical activity between the two countries (Romania and Spain). Unlike Spanish students, we found that Romanian students have a poor adherence to the MD.
Highlights
The Mediterranean Diet (MD) has a protective role in relation to: the development of Alzheimer’s disease, the risk of heart attack, certain digestive disorders, certain tumors such as colorectal and breast tumors, diabetes and other pathologies associated with oxidative stress
Of all Romanian students, 20% have a poor adherence to the MD, compared to the much smaller percentage of 0.7% of the Spanish students, with the same level of adherence
As far as the average adherence to the MD is concerned, 47.9% of Romanian students and 47.7% of Spanish students fall into this category
Summary
The main purpose of this research was to show if there are differences between the Mediterranean diet and physical activity in students from Romania and Spain. In line with the ideas brought forward, the purpose of this study was to make a comparative analysis between the MD and PA, in students from Romania and Spain. Discussions The main purpose of this research was to carry out a comparative analysis of the MD and PA, in students from Romania and Spain
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