Adherence to the Mediterranean diet pattern among university staff: a cross-sectional web-based epidemiological study in Southern Italy

Abstract

In this cross-sectional web-survey, carried out in 340 employees (24–67 years) among university staff of Southern Italy, we assessed the adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MD). Using an online questionnaire based on validated 14-point MD Adherence Screener (MEDAS), the mean of the score was 7.34 (±1.9) for total population independently of sex. In population divided by the cut-off age of 45 years, MD adherence resulted significantly lower in younger respect to older group (p = .003). In multiple regression analyses we observed the direct association between MEDAS score and older age group also after adjustments. Importantly, in all sample the percentage of adherers to recommendations for fruits, nuts and fish resulted outside dietary guidelines. The present findings underscore the need to develop healthy education programmes aimed to improve the consumption of several components of the MD, particularly among young adults, in order to prevent the early onset of chronic non-transmittable diseases.

Keywords:

• Mediterranean diet
• Mediterranean diet adherence screener
• healthy lifestyle
• dietary compliance
• web survey

Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank all our participants. We are also thankful Dr. Giuseppe Bevacqua and Giuseppe De Marco, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)- University of Calabria, Italy, for providing technical support.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Calabria, Italy. All employees gave written informed consent prior to their participation in the study.

Author contributions

AG and GC data collection, study design, analysis and interpretation data and writing the manuscript; CG, IB, CM analysis and interpretation of data; DL analysis of data; DS, intellectual planning and writing the manuscript; SC, SA and DB conception of idea, study design, reviewing manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Osservatorio Epidemiologico e Promozione della Salute, “Sezione Gozzo Endemico e Iodoprofilassi”, Regione Calabria ITALY; by Department of Excellence (Italian Law. 232/2016) Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Italy and by DI.ME.NU. (prot. 52243/2017) Regional Operational Programme (POR) 2014-2020 for Calabria, Italy. Also the study was funded by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca ITALY.