Children's diet assessed with the Mediterranean Diet Index: the finding of new eating habits and their impact on a cohort of Italian children.

Objectives: Mediterranean Diet (MD) has been inversely associated with many diseases: it reduces total mortality and lowers cardiovascular risk. Despite the known benefits of MD, variations of dietary habits have occurred in recent years especially in young people. The aim of our study is to evaluate MD adherence in a cohort of Italian children and adolescents living in Southern Italy.

Methods and results: Adherence to MD was evaluated with the Mediterranean Diet Index (KIDMED). Sex, age, and anthropometric measures were recorded on a population of 132 children; of those 71.2% showed poor adherence to MD, 26.5% average adherence and only 2.3% good adherence. Higher prevalence of poor adherence was recorded in obese children and there was statistically significant inverse correlation between age and adherence score.

Conclusions: Our results highlight low adherence to MD in a cohort of Italian children. These findings support the importance of monitoring dietary habits, especially in adolescents.