Abstract
Background: The Mediterranean Diet (hereinafter MD) is considered a healthy dietary pattern. Adherence to this pattern can be assessed by means of the KIDMED test by which individuals are assigned an index and classified into three groups of adherence to MD: high, medium, and low. In addition, impulsivity or impatience in intertemporal choice has been defined as a strong preference for small immediate rewards over large delayed ones.Objective: This study examines the relationship between dietary habits, specifically Mediterranean dietary pattern, measured by the KIDMED index, and the exhibited impatience in intertemporal choices, by means of the parameter k (discount rate of the hyperbolic discount function).Methods: A sample of 207 university students answered a questionnaire based on two tests: the KIDMED test, to assess the degree of adherence to MD, and an intertemporal choice questionnaire, to assess impatience or impulsivity. Individuals were grouped depending on their KIDMED score and then the discount rate or impulsivity parameter was calculated for each group.Results: Discount rates were inversely related to the degree of adherence to MD. The values of overall k were 1.53, 1.91, and 3.71% for the groups exhibiting high, medium and low adherence to MD, respectively. We also found higher k-values for larger rewards (magnitude effect) in the three groups.Conclusion: High adherence to MD is related to less steep time discounting, which implies less impulsivity (more self-control) or lower discount rates. Conversely, low adherence to MD is related to steeper time discounting, which implies impulsivity or higher discount rates. These findings could be used to identify the target population where policy interventions are needed in order to promote healthier diet habits.
Highlights
The traditional Mediterranean diet is characterized by a high consumption of plant foods, of olive oil as the principal source of mono-unsaturated fat, intake of fish, low-to-moderate intake of dairy products, low consumption of meat and poultry, and wine consumed in low-to-moderate amounts, normally with meals [1]
We subsequently introduced the intertemporal choices of each individual in the first group in the automated scores for an Excel spreadsheet using [36], obtaining the discount rates (k-values) for each individual and for the whole group
We had a final sample of 196 subjects divided into three groups depending on their adherence to Mediterranean Diet (MD): 29% of the subjects were included in the high-adherence group, 58% in the medium adherence group, and 13% in the low adherence group, according to their KIDMED index
Summary
The traditional Mediterranean diet is characterized by a high consumption of plant foods (vegetables, fruits, legumes, and cereals), of olive oil as the principal source of mono-unsaturated fat (low intake of saturated fat), intake of fish, low-to-moderate intake of dairy products, low consumption of meat and poultry, and wine consumed in low-to-moderate amounts, normally with meals [1] This dietary pattern is considered a balanced and varied diet which provides most of the recommended macronutrients in their correct proportion [2]. Self-Control and Mediterranean Dietary Pattern in temporal discounting (i.e., preference for sooner smaller rewards over larger later ones) contributes to dysregulated eating [21] In both obese and non-obese women, impulsivity in intertemporal choices has been associated with problematic eating behavior [22, 23]. Impulsivity or impatience in intertemporal choice has been defined as a strong preference for small immediate rewards over large delayed ones
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