Eureka! Institutional Repository

The nowadays scourge are the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) as they constitute the highest percentage of worldwide death (WHO 2010). The reason of NCDs growth are high glucose and blood cholesterol, hypertension, reduced intake of fruits and vegetables, concerning people with an increased (Overweight, Obese) BMI (Body Mass Index) having reduced physical activity and last but not least tobacco users (WHO, 2004). Moreover, a balanced standard nutrition and the presence of physical activity contribute to health maintenance and disease prevention (who, 2002). Increased adherence to the Mediterranean diet is a sign of longevity, wellbeing and reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). It is also a balanced dietary pattern that helps the improvement of nutritional behavior. Purpose: Promotion and assessment of eating habits according to the degree valuation on the model of the Mediterranean Diet. Further exploring on eating habits with possible impact on overall health. Results: The MedDietScore index represents a food index, which was created aiming at evaluating the degree of compliance to the Mediterranean Diet (Panagiotakos et al, 2006) .The results by MedDietScore index showed that within the sample (162 subjects of including 82 men and 80 women) a percentage of 59.3% (96 people men women together) complied with the Greek-Mediterranean dietary pattern, 34.6% (56 people) exhibited poor compliance, 5.6% (9 people) very good compliance while only 0.6% (1 person) showed no compliance. The degree of compliance is shown by the MedDietScore index was positively correlated with the frequency of breakfast consumption, the sum of daily meals and the percentage of people who exercised. Negative correlation of the index emerged with BMI, fat percent and ratio WHR (West-hip ratio) of the sample. Thus, the MedDietScore serves well as a means of dietary assessment and might provide reliable link between dietary and potential problems arising for health. The BMI of the sample showed positive correlation with the total number of meals, with consumption of beverages, with energy drinks, with exercise and body fat composition. As it is well known, in most cases the gaining of weight is related to increased fat in body composition. Furthermore, a positive correlation was shown between body fat composition and exercise. Aparently, body fat composition was positively correlated with WHR, an expected result, as the ratio signifies increased abdominal fat accumulation when it is not within physiological area for men and women. Conclusions: Young people of Achaia had good adherence (59.3%) in the Mediterranean pattern, but an alarming rate (34.6%) showed "poor" compliance. This outcome indicates potential health problems in the near future from such an early age. Particularly, low consumption of fruit and fresh juices was related to people who had "poor" compliance, while those of the sample who showed "good" compliance to Mediterranean pattern seemed to have more frequent meals during the day, frequent breakfast consumption and increased physical activity.