The association between the Mediterranean diet and high physical activity among the working population in Croatia

Abstract

Background: Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity constitute an emerging public health problem. The working population is of special interest for public health monitoring and evaluation because workers' unhealthy lifestyles may lead to reduced work ability. The aim of this study was to determine diet quality and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), according to the level of physical activity, and to detect variables associated with the working population's being highly physically active. Material and Methods: At the Institute for Occupational Medicine 400 full-time workers were examined for obesity factors, filled in the short version of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-short) and a validated food frequency questionnaire for adherence to the Mediterranean diet using Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS). The workers were divided into low, moderate and high physical activity groups according to the IPAQ-short scoring protocol. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to determine the variables associated with being highly active. Results: One-third of the participants were highly physically active and their diet adhered to the MD (Me MDS = 7). Significant variables associated with a high level of physical activity were gender (p < 0.001), age (p = 0.02), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) (p < 0.001), sitting level (p = 0.044) and occupational type (p < 0.001). Conclusions: It was found that the participants displaying a high level of physical activity had a better quality diet that adhered to the Mediterranean diet but not to a significant degree. The variables associated with a high level of physical activity were male gender, younger age, normal WHR, non-sedentary occupation and reduced sitting time. The study findings could serve the purpose of improving future public health promotion of physical activity and the Mediterranean diet.

Trends in Diet Quality and Related Sociodemographic, Health, and Occupational Characteristics among Workers in Spain: Results from Three Consecutive National Health Surveys (2006–2017)

“…In Western countries, and to a lesser extent in Mediterranean countries, people with a preference for wine have, in general, healthier dietary habits than individuals with other preferences. Consistent with previous studies [ 76 , 86 ], work-related physical activity and leisure-time physical activity were found to be related to better diet quality. Eating behavior and physical activity both use the same decision-making process, which involves self-regulation mediated by the neural system [ 87 ].…”

Association of Smoking-Related Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) with Nutritional Status and Diet Quality: A Cross-Sectional Study in China

“…The covariates were selected according to the previous literature. Physical activity [24], socioeconomic position based on income [25], education [26], alcohol consumption [27], and nutritional status [28] are the direct influencing factors for diet quality. All models were adjusted for these covariates in multivariate analysis.…”

Physical Activity Is Associated With Improved Eating Habits During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, some studies showed that regular physical activity were associated with healthier eating habits (Pavičić ŽeŽelj et al, 2019). Further, physical activity and healthful eating habits were also associated with improvements in immune system function (Defagó et al, 2019;Weyh et al, 2020), which in turn, may reduce one's risk for developing COVID-19 symptoms or complications (Hamer et al, 2020).…”