Adherence to Mediterranean diet and nutritional status in a sample of nonagenarians

The aim is to describe the adherence to Mediterranean diet in a sample of nonagenarians and to analyse its cross-sectional association with anthropometric and bioelectrical parameters.

A cross-sectional design was employed in this study. The adherence to the Mediterranean diet was measured through the Mediterranean Diet Score (MedDietScore).

A representative sample of nonagenarian residents in the eight municipalities belonging to Mugello (Florence, Italy).

The tools used to investigate the nutritional status and the body composition were: weight; ulna length to estimate the height; body mass index (BMI); mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC); calf circumference (CC); waist circumference (WC); hip circumference (HC); and specific bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVAsp).

All the measurements were carried out for 298 nonagenarians (70.8% of whom were females). The mean value of MedDietScore was 34.3±3.6. The MedDietScore was significantly correlated with CC (r=0.127), specific resistance (Rsp, r=0.152), and specific impedance (Zsp, r=0.153) in the whole sample, as well as with height (r=-0.222), Rsp (r=0.282), and Zsp (r=0.282) in males. In the whole sample, Rsp and Zsp mean values significantly increased by quartiles of MedDietScore; these results were confirmed by vector analysis.

The high level of adherence to Mediterranean diet could contribute to explaining the longevity of our sample. Studying the influence of dietary lifestyle in nonagenarians in depth could help to promote healthy ageing.