Evaluation of Physical Fitness, Body Composition, and Adherence to Mediterranean Diet in Adolescents from Estonia: The AdolesHealth Study

Pablo Galan-Lopez, Raúl Domínguez, Maret Pihu, Thordis Gísladóttir, Antonio J. Sánchez-Oliver and Francis Ries
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Pablo Galan-Lopez: Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Seville, 41013 Sevilla, Spain
Raúl Domínguez: Faculty of Health Sciences of Universidad Isabel I, Universidad Isabel I, 09003 Burgos, Spain
Maret Pihu: Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, 51005 Tartu, Estonia
Thordis Gísladóttir: Research Center for Sport and Health Sciences, School of Education, University of Iceland, 105 Reykjavík, Iceland
Antonio J. Sánchez-Oliver: Human Motricity and Sports Performance, University of Seville, 41013 Seville, Spain
Francis Ries: Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Seville, 41013 Sevilla, Spain

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Unhealthy lifestyles, low levels of physical fitness, and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) are associated with bad quality of life and the development of a wide range of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The current study aimed to evaluate the level of adherence to the MD in physical fitness performance and body composition parameters in children and adolescents of Estonia. Therefore, 413 adolescents (56% boys) from the city of Tartu completed the Mediterranean Diet Questionnaire (KIDMED) for analyzing the adherence to MD and performed the Alpha Fitness Test for measuring physical fitness and body composition. A 41.67% of low, 44.05% of average, and 14.28% of high adherence to MD was detected, without difference between genders ( p = 0.747). In the Alpha Fitness battery, a higher performance was observed in all tests for boys vs. girls ( p < 0.05). In relation to body composition, higher height, weight, and waist values were observed in boys ( p < 0.05) and a lower body fat percentage ( p < 0.01) without differences in body mass index (BMI; p = 0.906). The adherence to the MD is classified as average/low. Gender significantly influences all variables of the Alpha Fitness battery and anthropometrics measures excepting BMI. According the levels of adherence to the MD, no statistically different prevalence was observed for Non-Overweight (N-O weight ), Non-Overfat (N-O fat ), or Non-Overwaist (N-O waist ). Still, a risk factor for Overweight (O weight ) in boys with low adherence was observed in comparison to those with a mid-level of adherence to the MD.

Keywords: adolescents; obesity; nutrition; sedentary; physical inactivity; lifestyle; cardiovascular risk factors; body composition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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