The Mediterranean Diet Versus a Low-Fat Diet, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Obesity

Association of Mean Daily Polyphenols Intake with Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Anthropometric Indices in Healthy Greek Adults: A Retrospective Study

“…Polyphenols, as major bioactive compounds of the Mediterranean diet, have been studied as possible factors that may positively affect plasma lipids, insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, inflammatory progress, weight gain, and body mass index, as well as waist-to-hip ratio [8,29,46,47]. The Mediterranean diet is emerging as a key strategy for improving metabolic biomarkers, as several studies have concluded that Mediterranean diet adherence is related to a decreased risk of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, osteoporosis, and hypertension [36,38,41,[48][49][50][51][52][53]. The results of the present study indicate a possible synergistic effect of Mediterranean diets' bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, on body composition.…”

“…In recent decades, human nutritional attitudes have turned to the Westernized lifestyle, which is characterized by increased sugars, saturated fat, increased total calories, and decreased physical activity [34,35]. Scientific evidence strongly supports that Mediterranean diet adherence might protect from metabolic disorders due to its beneficial impact on metabolic biomarkers, such as serum lipids, inflammation, and oxidative stress [36][37][38]. In Greece, the lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet has been correlated with increased incidence of obesity and cardiovascular disease in children and adults [36,37], so the need for diet improvement should be the aim of the national nutritional policies.…”