Culture and Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet: An Island’s Scope
Main Article Content
Keywords
MEDAS, Cyprus, Mediterranean diet, culture, Mediterranean region
Abstract
Background: The Mediterranean diet is a nutritional model which is known with the Mediterranean countries. It is based on the nutritional habits and lifestyles of people from the region incorporating nutrition, physical activity, food production etc. The island of Cyprus is centrally located in the eastern part of the region. There are cultural differences between the northern and southern regions. In addition to native islanders, there are latecomers who have come to the island for education, work or after retirement term. Objective: This study is aimed to determine locals -from each side- and latecomers’ adherence to the Mediterranean diet and relation between food production and the Mediterranean diet adaptation. Methods: Participation was voluntary in this presented study. There were 715 participants. General background and food production were determined with questionnaire developed by researchers. Overall, adherence to the Mediterranean diet was conducted by Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS). Results: The mean MEDAS score was 7.46 ± 2.23 points, while the Southern side of the island had a higher adaptation (due to more red wine and white meat consumption) (p<0.001). According to results as latecomers’ duration of stay in the island increased, their MEDAS scores improved (i.e. who lived in this island more than ten years had the highest MEDAS in latecomers subgroup) (p: 0.03). Strikingly, participants -who produced their own foods- had higher score in proportion to production volume (p: 0.007). Conclusion: The current study has been shown that nationality (i.e. country of origin) is not an important factor on the nutritional habits of people. Inhabitance duration in the Mediterranean region is very effective to adapt to nutrition habits of this region. In addition, own food production is an indispensable part of the Mediterranean diet.
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