Dissimilar Impact of a Mediterranean Diet and Physical Activity on Anthropometric Indices: A Cross-Sectional Study from the ILERVAS Project

Abstract

There is a close relationship between lifestyle behaviors and excess adiposity. Although body mass index (BMI) is the most used approach to estimate excess weight, other anthropometric indices have been developed to measure total body and abdominal adiposity. However, little is known about the impact of physical activity and adherence to a Mediterranean diet on these indices. Here we report the results of a cross-sectional study with 6672 middle-aged subjects with low to moderate cardiovascular risk from the Ilerda Vascular (ILERVAS) project. The participants’ adherence to physical activity (International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form) and MedDiet (Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener) was evaluated. Measures of total adiposity (BMI, Clínica Universidad de Navarra-Body Adiposity Estimator (CUN-BAE), and Deurenberg’s formula), central adiposity (waist and neck circumferences, conicity index, waist to height ratio, Bonora’s equation, A body adiposity index, and body roundness index), and lean body mass (Hume formula) were assessed. Irrespective of sex, lower indices of physical activity were associated with higher values of total body fat and central adiposity. This result was constant regardless of the indices used to estimate adiposity. However, the association between MedDiet and obesity indices was much less marked and more dependent on sex than that observed for physical activity. Lean body mass was influenced by neither physical activity nor MedDiet adherence. No joint effect between physical activity and MedDiet to lower estimated total or central adiposity indices was shown. In conclusion, physical activity is related to lower obesity indices in a large cohort of middle-aged subjects. MedDiet showed a slight impact on estimated anthropometric indices, with no joint effect when considering both lifestyle variables. ClinTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03228459.

Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Morphological Changes in the Adventitial Vasa Vasorum Density and Biological Markers of Endothelial Dysfunction in Subjects with Moderate Obesity Undergoing a Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet

“…VLCKD has been proposed as an effective weight loss method for patients with obesity [ 15 , 16 ], including its use in the preoperative setting for bariatric surgery [ 34 ]; it has even been included in the preoperative consensus statement from the Italian Society of Endocrinology [ 27 ]. Our results agree with previous studies comparing the VLCKD with a hypocaloric diet based on the MedDiet, showing VLCKD to be associated with marked reductions not only in BMI, but also in total body fat and waist circumference, all of which are related to the incidence of CV disease [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. It has been suggested that nutritional ketosis and DHA supplementation may be added to the greater weight loss as responsible for these beneficial effects [ 15 , 20 , 38 ].…”

Influence of Physical Activity, Mediterranean Diet, Smoking, and Different Sociodemographic Variables on the Prevalence of Diabesity

“…Our work found an inverse relationship between a high level of physical activity and the presence of type 2 diabetes and obesity; this effect of exercise was found in practically all the studies analyzed [26][27][28]. We discovered a similar effect to that of physical exercise with the Mediterranean diet and the prevalence of diabetes and obesity, and our results are supported by those obtained by other authors [29][30].…”

Mediterranean Diet and Healthy Eating in Subjects with Prediabetes from the Mollerussa Prospective Observational Cohort Study

“…As expected, our results indicated that women had healthier eating patterns in terms of MedDiet and healthy eating compared with men. A cross-sectional study in our region observed that women had a higher adherence to the MedDiet [ 36 ], and a cross-sectional study performed with subjects without diabetes observed that women aged over 65 years had a higher adherence to the MedDiet than men [ 24 ]. Moreover, Filippatos et al observed that young women had a higher adherence to the MedDiet [ 23 ].…”