Mediterranean Adequacy Index in Young People in Syria

Authors

Dr. Malda Atasi

Published in

 Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research and Health Care

Abstract

; "> Objective: To assess, the degree of adherence to Mediterranean Diet (MD) in Syrian young people, and studying the effec of some variables on Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) value and its comparison with other studies in Spain and Mediterranean area

Background:It has been observed that the Syrian population, especially the young ones, are abandoning the (MD), which affects in long term their health, the same has been observed in Spanish youth. The longitudinal study of the “seven counties” involved active rural population in Italy, was firstly demonstrated the progressively abandoning of MD.
Methods: The sample under the study was 204 young people (41.7% men and 58.3% women) in the area of Damascus (65% were students). They filled in a semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire, then the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI) was computed by dividing the sum in gram of typical Mediterranean food Groups (Cereals, Legumes, Fruits,Fish), by the sum in gram of non-typical Mediterranean food groups (Meats, Eggs, Cookies and cakes, dairy). It was used the SPSS program to study the correlation between the variables and MAI of the sample

Results: The average MAI of the young sample was (1.17) which is lower than another study in Spanish young people and much lower than 7.2 in Italy several decades ago.    Those results demonstrated that the young Syrian are abandoning the Mediterranean Diet as well as the Spanish young people. The caloric profile has changed over time that  results in lower consumption of carbohydrates and higher consumption of protein and lipids, similar to almost Mediterranean area. Moreover the war has an impact on
the type of food consumed which affect MAI. The lipid profile (measured by the cocient of intake of Mono Unsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) and Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids  (PUFA) divided by Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA) of the sample was 3.71 better than other studies in Spain 1,69, 1,71 (the recommended value should be > 2). This illustrates a  moderate consumption of olive and vegetable oil, but poor consumption of meat and eggs in contrast of Spanish diet.

Keywords

Lipid Profile, Mediterranean Diet Adequacy Index, Nutritional Assessment, Syrian Mediterranean Diet

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