Adherence to the Mediterranean diet among Italian adults: results from the web-based Medi-Lite questionnaire

The adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) was assessed in a sample of 1,820 non-selected individuals (1,099 females and 721 males aged ≥18 years) who have completed the web version of the Medi-Lite score during the year 2019. Adherence to the MD was found to have a normal distribution and, on a scale from 0 to 18, the mean score was 12.2 ± 2.4. Significantly (p<0.001) higher adherence scores were observed in females compared to males, in elderly people compared to young people, and in individuals with a university degree compared to those with a primary or a secondary school diploma. At the multivariate analysis, female gender, advanced age (>45 years), and higher education level were associated with a higher probability of being in the highest quartile of the Medi-Lite distribution. In conclusion, we found that some sub-groups of our population (males, younger individuals, and those with lower levels of education) need to improve their diet for reaching higher adherence scores to the MD.