Association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors

OBJECTIVE: to determine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in a cohort of workers and to quantify its association with compliance with the Mediterranean diet follow-up. METHOD: a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on a cohort of 23,729 workers. Clinical data from annual medical examinations and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener were used to assess adherence to the Mediterranean diet. RESULTS: 51.3% of the participants showed good adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The multivariate analysis showed an inverse and significant association between the follow-up of the Mediterranean diet and the prevalence of abdominal obesity (Odds Ratio = 0.64, 95% CI 0.56; 0.73), dyslipidemia (Odds Ratio = 0.55, 95% CI 0.42; 0.73), and metabolic syndrome (Odds Ratio = 0.76, 95% CI 0.67; 0.86). CONCLUSIONS: our results suggest that the Mediterranean diet is potentially effective in promoting cardiovascular health. Implementing the interventions promoting the Mediterranean diet in the working population seems justified.