Table 3.
Positive answers to MEDAS questionnaire and adherence to the MD
| Whole sample (n = 3533) | Northern Italy (n = 547) | Center Italy (n = 2009) | Southern Italy and Islands (n = 977) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olive oil, main dressing | 3368 (95.8) | 518 (94.7) | 1940 (96.6) | 928 (95.0) |
| Olive oil, >= 4 ts/day | 1827 (51.7) | 257 (47.0) | 1076 (53.6) | 494 (50.6) |
| Vegetables, >= 2 s/day | 2430 (68.8) | 398 (72.8) | 1396 (69.5) | 636 (65.1) |
| Fruits, >= 3 s/day | 1202 (34.0) | 180 (32.9) | 666 (33.2) | 356 (36.4) |
| Read meat, < 1 s/day | 1854 (52.5) | 307 (56.1) | 1039 (51.7) | 508 (52.0) |
| Butter, < 1 s/day | 1668 (47.2) | 301 (55.0) | 888 (44.2) | 479 (49.0) |
| Sweet beverage, < 1 s/day | 1676 (47.4) | 293 (53.6) | 916 (45.6) | 467 (47.8) |
| Wine, 7 s/week | 396 (11.2) | 60 (11.0) | 245 (12.2) | 91 (9.3) |
| Legumes, >=3 s/week | 1826 (51.7) | 267 (48.8) | 966 (48.1) | 593 (60.7) |
| Fish and seafood, >= 3 s/week | 1376 (38.9) | 198 (36.2) | 750 (37.3) | 428 (43.8) |
| Sweets, < 3 s/week | 1753 (49.6) | 280 (51.2) | 970 (48.3) | 503 (51.5) |
| Nuts, >= 3/week | 1675 (47.4) | 281 (51.4) | 909 (45.2) | 485 (49.6) |
| White meat over red | 2653 (75.1) | 427 (78.1) | 1515 (75.4) | 711 (72.8) |
| “Soffritto” | 1890 (53.5) | 309 (56.5) | 1067 (53.1) | 514 (52.6) |
| MEDAS score | 7 [6–9]* | 7 [6–9] | 7 [6–9] | 7 [6–9] |
| Adherence to the MD | ||||
| Low | 765 (21.7) | 108 (19.7) | 463 (23.0) | 194 (19.9) |
| Medium | 2228 (63.1) | 344 (62.9) | 1261 (62.8) | 623 (63.8) |
| High | 540 (15.3) | 95 (17.4) | 285 (14.2) | 160 (16.4) |
Positive answers to MEDAS questionnaire. Compliance rates of at least 50% are indicated in italics. Data are expressed as number and percentage in parenthesis (n (%)) for categorical variables or median and IQR in square brackets (M [IQR]) for continuous variables. Vegetables daily serving: 1 medium portion = 200 g. Fruit daily serving: 1 serving = 100–150 g portion. Red meat/hamburgers/other meat daily serving: 1 medium portion = 100–150 g. Butter, margarine or cream daily serving: 1 medium portion = 12 g. Sweet or sugar sweetened carbonated beverages daily serving: 1 medium portion = 200 ml. Wine daily serving: 1 medium portion = 125 ml. Legumes weekly serving: 1 portion = 150 g. Fish daily serving: 1 medium portion = 100–150 g. Seafood daily serving: 1 medium portion = 200 g. Nuts weekly serving: 1 portion of dairy product = 30 g
MEDAS Mediterranean diet adherence screener; MD Mediterranean diet; s serving; ts tablespoon
*The Shapiro–Wilk test was performed to evaluate variables distribution. Variables are considered non-normally distributed for p < 0.05