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Table 2 Dietary behaviors for the entire sample and by the level of adherence to the MD

From: Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and its association with sustainable dietary behaviors, sociodemographic factors, and lifestyle: a cross-sectional study in US University students

Variables

 

Adherence to the MD a

 

All

Low

Medium

High

p-value

(n = 1485)

(n = 499)

(n = 695)

(n = 291)

SHED index score

70.0 (55.0–87.0)

58.0 (46.0–71.0) c

71.0 (58.0–85.0) b

91.0 (74.0-110.0) a

< 0.001 §

SHED sub-scores

     

HE score

15.0 (11.0–19.0)

12.0 (9.0–16.0) c

16.0 (13.0–19.0) b

19.0 (16.0–22.0) a

< 0.001 §

SE score

10.0 (8.0–13.0)

8.0 (6.0–11.0) c

11.0 (8.0–13.0) b

13.0 (11.0–17.0) a

< 0.001 §

BFV score

33.0 (23.5–44.0)

26.0 (19.0–36.0) c

34.0 (24.0–44.0) b

43.0 (33.0–57.0) a

< 0.001 §

Ready meals score

15.0 (10.0–19.0)

13.0 (9.0–18.0) c

15.0 (11.0–19.0) b

17.0 (13.0–21.0) a

< 0.001 §

Water score

6.0 (3.0–9.0)

6.0 (2.0–9.0)

6.0 (3.0–9.0)

6.0 (3.0–9.0)

0.072 §

Soda score

-8.0 (-11.0- -6.0)

-8.0 (-11.0- -5.0) b

-9.0 (-12.0- -6.0) a

-8.0 (-11.0- -4.0) c

< 0.001§

SHED index tertilesb

    

< 0.001 †

1st tertile

465 (31.3)

261 (52.3)

174 (25.0)

30 (10.3)

 

2nd tertile

441 (29.7)

147 (29.5)

236 (34.0)

58 (19.9)

 

3rd tertile

579 (39.0)

91 (18.2)

285 (41.0)

203 (69.8)

 

% Plant-based foods in the diet

42.0 (27.0–60.0)

31.0 (20.0–46.0) c

45.0 (30.0–61.0) b

59.0 (40.0–75.0) a

< 0.001 §

Dietary pattern

    

< 0.001 †

Omnivore

1138 (76.6)

429 (86.0)

523 (75.3)

186 (63.9)

 

Flexitarian

155 (10.4)

27 (5.4)

76 (10.9)

52 (17.9)

 

Pescatarian

31 (2.1)

7 (1.4)

15 (1.4)

9 (3.1)

 

Vegetarian

76 (5.1)

19 (3.8)

36 (5.2)

21 (7.2)

 

Vegan

28 (1.9)

8 (1.6)

13 (1.9)

7 (2.4)

 

Raw foodism

5 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

2 (0.3)

3 (1.0)

 

Fruitarian

43 (2.9)

8 (1.6)

22 (3.2)

13 (4.5)

 

Others

9 (0.6)

1 (0.2)

8 (1.2)

0 (0.0)

 

Willingness to purchase and consume healthy and sustainable dishes

    

< 0.001 †

Very unlikely

48 (3.2)

22 (4.4)

16 (2.3)

10 (3.4)

 

Unlikely

137 (9.2)

80 (16.0)

51 (7.3)

6 (2.1)

 

Undecided

315 (21.2)

156 (31.3)

130 (18.7)

29 (10.0)

 

Likely

675 (45.5)

189 (37.9)

369 (53.1)

117 (40.2)

 

Very likely

310 (20.9)

52 (10.4)

129 (18.6)

129 (4.3)

 

Frequency of eating ultra-processed plant-based meat alternative foods

    

< 0.001 †

Never/Rarely

562 (37.8)

265 (53.1)

237 (34.1)

60 (20.6)

 

1–2 times/month

316 (21.3)

103 (20.6)

156 (22.4)

57 (19.6)

 

≤ 1 time/week

296 (19.9)

71 (14.2)

154 (22.2)

71 (24.4)

 

2–3 times/week

170 (11.4)

37 (7.4)

97 (14.0)

36 (12.4)

 

4–5 times/week

89 (6.0)

17 (3.4)

36 (5.2)

36 (12.4)

 

Daily or almost daily

52 (3.5)

6 (1.2)

15 (2.2)

31 (10.7)

 
  1. Data are presented as the median (IQR) for continuous variables and as number (%) for categorical variables. a Low total score ≤ 3 points; medium total score 4–7 points; high total score ≥ 8 points. b 1st tertile ≤ 57; 2nd tertile 58—76; 3rd tertile ≥ 77. § Nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis H test for independent sample with Bonferroni post hoc test. Different letters in the same line denote significant differences among adherence to MD groups. † Person Chi-square test. MD: Mediterranean Diet; HE: Healthy Eating; SE: Sustainable Eating; BFV: Fruits and Vegetable purchasing location; SHED: Sustainable-Healthy-Diet
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Nutrition Journal

ISSN: 1475-2891

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