• Nutrition · Oct 2023

    Younger age, higher father education level, and healthy lifestyle behaviors are associated with higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet in school-aged children.

    • Gamze Yurtdaş Depboylu and Gülşah Kaner.
    • Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetic, İzmir Katip Çelebi University, İzmir, Turkey. Electronic address: gmzyurtdas@hotmail.com.
    • Nutrition. 2023 Oct 1; 114: 112166112166.

    ObjectivesThis study aimed to assess adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (MDiet) in school-aged children in Turkey and explore the associated factors with high adherence to the MDiet.MethodThis cross-sectional was conducted with 2693 school-aged children. Sociodemographic, dietary, and lifestyle data were collected using a questionnaire. Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) was used to evaluate adherence to the MDiet. Body weight, height, neck, waist, and hip circumference were measured. Dietary intake was assessed with a 24-h food consumption record.ResultsOf the 2693 children, 29.5% had high, 53.9% had moderate, and 16.6% had low adherence to the MDiet. Primary school children had significantly higher adherence to the diet than secondary school children. Adherence to the MDiet was higher in children whose fathers were university graduates. There were no significant differences in sex, body mass index (BMI), or anthropometric measurements according to MDiet adherence. The high adherence group had a significantly higher intake of protein, fiber, vitamins C, B1, B6, B2, folate, polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc, potassium, and calcium, but lower carbohydrate intake compared with the low/moderate adherence group. Higher adherence to the MDiet was associated with adequate sleep duration (≥9 to <12 h) (odds ratio [OR], 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.24-2.78), whereas poor/moderate adherence was associated with age (OR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.73-0.87) and screen time (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.40-0.63). Children who reported engaging in regular physical activity were more likely to have higher MDiet adherence (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.16-1.85).ConclusionThe results of this study showed that >50% of the children presented moderate MDiet adherence. Younger age, adequate sleep duration, engaging in regular physical activity, less screen time, and higher education level of fathers were associated with higher adherence to the diet.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…