Abstract
IntroductionGreater adherence to a Mediterranean diet is linked to lower risk for cardiovascular morbidity/mortality in studies of Mediterranean cohorts, older subjects, and/or those with existing health conditions. No studies have examined the effects of this dietary pattern in younger working populations in the United States. We investigated the effects of Mediterranean diet adherence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) biomarkers, metabolic syndrome and body composition in an occupationally active, non-Mediterranean cohort.MethodsA cross-sectional study in a cohort of 780 career male firefighters, ages 18 years or older, from the United States Midwest. No dietary intervention was performed. A modified Mediterranean diet score (mMDS) was developed for assessment of adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern from a previously administered life-style questionnaire that examined pre-existing dietary habits. Clinical data from fire department medical examinations were extracted and analyzed.ResultsObese subjects had significantly lower mMDS, and they reported greater fast/take-out food consumption (p<0.001) and intake of sweetened drinks during meals (p = 0.002). After multivariate adjustment, higher mMDS was inversely related to risk of weight gain over the past 5 years (odds ratio [OR]: 0.57, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.39–0.84, p for trend across score quartiles: 0.01); as well as the presence of metabolic syndrome components (OR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.44–0.94, p for trend across score quartiles: 0.04). Higher HDL-cholesterol (p = 0.008) and lower LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.04) were observed in those with higher mMDS in linear regression after multivariate adjustment for age, BMI and physical activity.ConclusionsIn a cohort of young and active US adults, greater adherence to a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern had significant inverse associations with metabolic syndrome, LDL-cholesterol and reported weight gain, and was significantly and independently associated with higher HDL-cholesterol. Our results support the potential effectiveness of this diet in young, non-Mediterranean working cohorts, and justify future intervention studies.
Highlights
Greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet is linked to lower risk for cardiovascular morbidity/mortality in studies of Mediterranean cohorts, older subjects, and/or those with existing health conditions
[1] In particular, the Mediterranean diet has consistently been associated with better health status, decreased all-cause mortality and protective/ameliorative effects on chronic diseases. [2,3,4,5,6,7] this type of diet is associated with benefits regarding cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome [3,8,9,10,11], as well as on the relative risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD)-related morbidity and mortality [2,9,12,13,14]
Several studies have measured Mediterranean diet adherence with a scoring system and have reported inverse associations with CVD morbidity and mortality, those investigations were primarily conducted on older subjects, those with existing health conditions and/or among Mediterranean populations. [2,4,6,7,12,15,16,17] Little is known about the effects of Mediterranean-style diet among young working groups in nonMediterranean countries
Summary
Greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet is linked to lower risk for cardiovascular morbidity/mortality in studies of Mediterranean cohorts, older subjects, and/or those with existing health conditions. No studies have examined the effects of this dietary pattern in younger working populations in the United States. We investigated the effects of Mediterranean diet adherence on cardiovascular disease (CVD) biomarkers, metabolic syndrome and body composition in an occupationally active, non-Mediterranean cohort. Several studies have measured Mediterranean diet adherence with a scoring system and have reported inverse associations with CVD morbidity and mortality, those investigations were primarily conducted on older subjects, those with existing health conditions and/or among Mediterranean populations. We investigated the association between cardiovascular risk markers and the extent to which the firefighters’ reported dietary habits conformed to a Mediterranean diet pattern using the mMDS
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