Adherence to a Mediterranean type of diet in the world: a geographical analysis based on a systematic review of 57 studies with 1,125,560 participants

This systematic review aimed to assess the level and time-trends of adherence to Mediterranean-type diets (MTD) among the general population, globally. According to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, a comprehensive literature search of the MEDLINE and Scopus databases was carried out, until 04/09/2023, based on specific criteria. Fifty-seven studies with 1,125,560 apparently healthy adults from Europe (n = 37), US (n = 8), Asia (n = 8), Australia (n = 4) and Africa (n = 1) were included. Adherence to an MTD was moderate with a significant decline observed in the last decade. European countries, mainly driven by Mediterranean countries, showed higher adherence than other regions. Geographical analysis revealed that adherence to an MTD is related to both geographic location and socioeconomic status throughout the world.

Repeatability of dietary patterns extracted through multivariate statistical methods: a literature review in methodological issues

In the last few years, the need for processing large amount of data in nutrition science was dramatically arose. This created the need to apply, primarily, advanced analytical research methods that could enable researchers to handle the large amount of information. Dietary pattern analysis is a commonly used approach to enable and incorporate this phenomenon in nutrition research. This article reviews the most common dietary pattern's assessment statistical methods, evaluating at the same time the up-to-day knowledge regarding the reliability and validity of the retrieved patterns. The review is based on both a-priori (diet scores) and a-posteriori (multivariate statistical analysis) methods. The reports from the existing few studies suggest that the use of both a-priori and a-posteriori pattern analyses in nutrition surveys should be made with consciousness. The suggestion of new statistical techniques for the control of repeatability of dietary patterns is considered essential.