Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet among School Children and Adolescents Living in Northern Italy and Unhealthy Food Behaviors Associated to Overweight
Open accessAbstract
The purposes of this study were to evaluate the differences in Mediterranean diet and its components among primary and secondary school children and adolescents living in northern Italy, and the associations with the weight status. Adherence was assessed by the KIDMED (Mediterranean Diet Quality Index) questionnaire on 669 subjects (6–16 years) attending five schools of Novara. The adherence was poor in 16.7%, average in 63.7%, and high in 19.6% of the students. Poor adherence was more frequent in primary than in secondary schools (20.7% vs. 13.7%, p < 0.04). Some unhealthy behaviors were more prevalent in younger children. Children of other ethnic origins had a mixed behavior, choosing both traditional healthy and unhealthy foods. Besides male gender and primary school, in Italian children, the risk of overweight was directly associated with eating at fast-food restaurants (OR: 1.890, CI 95% 1.002–3.563), and inversely with consumption of vegetables more than once a day (OR: 0.588, CI 95% 0.349–0.991), and olive oil at home (OR: 0.382, CI 95% 0.176–0.826). In children of other ethnic origins, this risk was associated with skipping breakfast (OR: 16.046, CI 95% 1.933–133.266), or consuming commercial baked good or pastries for breakfast (OR: 10.255, CI 95% 1.052–99.927). The overall KIDMED score correlated with height (β: 0.108; p < 0.005). Poor food quality is replacing the Mediterranean dietary pattern in children and adolescents, in particular among younger children. Because the risk of overweight was associated with different components of the Mediterranean diet depending on ethnic origins, tailored nutritional programs remain a need.
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Even in European countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, half of children and adolescents show only low adherence to the Mediterranean dietary tradition.
“Nonetheless, even in European countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, half of the children and adolescents show only a low adherence to this healthy dietary tradition [24], with a high rate of pediatric overweight and development of obesity and related complications in adult life.”
From Mediterranean diet nutrients to turn the tide against insulin resistance and related diseases (2020) · cites this paper as [24]
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Mediterranean diet nutrients to turn the tide against insulin resistance and related diseases
Mirabelli, M., Chiefari, E., Arcidiacono, B., Corigliano, D. M., Brunetti, F. S., Maggisano, V., Russo, D., Foti, D. P., & Brunetti, A. (2020) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu12041066 · Cited by 272 · see citing works
“Nonetheless, even in European countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, half of the children and adolescents show only a low adherence to this healthy dietary tradition [24], with a high rate of pediatric overweight and development of obesity and related complications in adult life.”
BackgroundGalan-Lopez, P., Sanchez-Oliver, A. J., Pihu, M., Gísladóttír, T., Domínguez, R., & Ries, F. (2019) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu12010077 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
- Authors
- Archero, F., Ricotti, R., Solito, A., Carrera, D., Civello, F., Di Bella, R., Bellone, S., & Prodam, F.
- Affiliations
- Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro” (IT)
- Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Maggiore della Carita (IT)
- SCDU of Pediatrics, Department of Health Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
- Corresponding author
- Prodam, Flavia
- Venue
- Nutrients
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2018-09-18
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1322
- ISSN
- 2072-6643 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6165180
- OpenAlex
- W2889938279
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 12.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nutrients (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Piemonte Orientale (NA)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- Mediterranean diet adherence, elementary school students, adolescents, childhood overweight, fast food consumption, vegetable consumption, olive oil consumption, breakfast skipping, ethnicity, KIDMED questionnaire, Northern Italy
- MeSH terms
- Diet, Healthy, Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Age Factors, Body Weight, Child, Child Behavior, Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Choice Behavior, Cross-Sectional Studies, Feeding Behavior, Female, Food Preferences, Humans, Italy, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Nutritional Status, Nutritive Value, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Health Behavior, Diet, Mediterranean, Pediatric Obesity
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