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Children today are constantly exposed to several risk factors and high levels of stress that can impact their mental, emotional, and physical health, which can trigger burnout. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and frequency of burnout in young amateur athletes and to study the role of the Mediterranean diet on burnout risk. An observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study of 183 basketball players between 8 and 15 years old was carried out. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed using the KIDMED questionnaire and the risk of burnout was assessed with the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire. Medians, minimums and maximum values for quantitative variables and absolute frequencies and percentages for qualitative variables were obtained. The results show a higher percentage of burnout among girls. The children who meet the established threshold for burnout spend more time watching television. Participants with better adherence to the Mediterranean diet have lower burnout values in both genders and those with a higher risk of burnout have a worse adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Therefore, it is important to implement a balanced diet appropriate to the individual needs of the athlete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poor dietary habits and low levels of physical activity (PA) have a strong tendency to track from childhood into adulthood. The Mediterranean Diet (MD) is known to be extremely healthy, associated with lower BMI and a lower risk of obesity in children and adolescents. Therefore, adherence to the MD was compared between Spanish (n = 182) and German (n = 152) children aged 10 to 13 years to examine a possible more "westernized" diet in Spain with a non-Mediterranean country, that traditionally prefers a "Western diet" and to determine the association between adherence to the MD and gender, body composition, and PA levels. Methods: In the German observational longitudinal cohort study and the Spanish cohort study, body composition and questionnaires (KIDMED, Diet Quality (IAES)) were obtained, and accelerometers (Actigraph) were applied to detect PA. Results: Girls had higher BMI-standard deviation score (SDS) than boys and Spanish girls were less active than boys. Differences were detected in MD habits, such as favorable fruit-, vegetables-, fish-intakes, and dairy products in Spanish children and unfavorable consumptions of fast food, processed bakery goods, candies, and sweet beverages in German children. Independently of country, girls, children with lower BMI-SDS and children with higher PA level were related with better diet quality. Conclusion: Spanish children showed higher adherence to MD and diet quality (IAES) compared to German children, but there was a trend toward a more "westernized" diet. Gender, body composition, and PA influenced nutrition regardless of country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children today are constantly exposed to several risk factors and high levels of stress that can impact their mental, emotional, and physical health, which can trigger burnout. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and frequency of burnout in young amateur athletes and to study the role of the Mediterranean diet on burnout risk. An observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study of 183 basketball players between 8 and 15 years old was carried out. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was assessed using the KIDMED questionnaire and the risk of burnout was assessed with the Athlete Burnout Questionnaire. Medians, minimums and maximum values for quantitative variables and absolute frequencies and percentages for qualitative variables were obtained. The results show a higher percentage of burnout among girls. The children who meet the established threshold for burnout spend more time watching television. Participants with better adherence to the Mediterranean diet have lower burnout values in both genders and those with a higher risk of burnout have a worse adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Therefore, it is important to implement a balanced diet appropriate to the individual needs of the athlete.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between adolescents' nutritional attitudes, obesity awareness, and diet quality with their self-reported anthropometric measurements taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-sectional type of study was conducted in a district in the south of Turkey. The research was carried out online with 907 adolescents who agreed to participate voluntarily. Among the adolescents, 28.5% considered themselves overweight, and 32.1% were currently trying to lose weight. According to BMI, 16.1% were affected by overweight/obesity. Adolescents' nutritional attitudes and obesity awareness levels were moderate, while their KIDMED nutritional habits were also moderate. In this study, a negative relationship was found between the adolescents' ASHN mean scores and their body weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, neck circumference, waist/hip ratio and waist/height ratio measurements; and between their OAS mean scores and their body weight, waist circumference, waist/hip ratio and waist/height ratio measurements; and between their KIDMED index scores and their waist/height ratio measurements (p < 0.001). The rate of adolescents who perceive themselves as overweight is higher than the results obtained from the measurement values. BMI levels and other anthropometric measurement values of adolescents with positive nutrition attitudes and physical activity behaviours are also positively affected. This study may have a significant impact on the formulation and implementation of interventions to prevent obesity and increase physical activity for school health nurses. Since the pandemic is still continuing, healthcare providers must stress the risk of obesity in adolescence. • 37.7% of the adolescents had an overweight person in their family and 28.5% considered themselves overweight. • A negative relationship was found between adolescents' measurements and their nutrition attitudes and obesity awareness • A negative relationship was found between adolescents' measurements and their nutrition attitudes and obesity awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poor dietary habits and low levels of physical activity (PA) have a strong tendency to track from childhood into adulthood. The Mediterranean Diet (MD) is known to be extremely healthy, associated with lower BMI and a lower risk of obesity in children and adolescents. Therefore, adherence to the MD was compared between Spanish (n = 182) and German (n = 152) children aged 10 to 13 years to examine a possible more “westernized” diet in Spain with a non-Mediterranean country, that traditionally prefers a “Western diet” and to determine the association between adherence to the MD and gender, body composition, and PA levels. Methods: In the German observational longitudinal cohort study and the Spanish cohort study, body composition and questionnaires (KIDMED, Diet Quality (IAES)) were obtained, and accelerometers (Actigraph) were applied to detect PA. Results: Girls had higher BMI-standard deviation score (SDS) than boys and Spanish girls were less active than boys. Differences were detected in MD habits, such as favorable fruit-, vegetables-, fish-intakes, and dairy products in Spanish children and unfavorable consumptions of fast food, processed bakery goods, candies, and sweet beverages in German children. Independently of country, girls, children with lower BMI-SDS and children with higher PA level were related with better diet quality. Conclusion: Spanish children showed higher adherence to MD and diet quality (IAES) compared to German children, but there was a trend toward a more “westernized” diet. Gender, body composition, and PA influenced nutrition regardless of country.

The effect of parents on nutritional habits in preschool children is undeniable. It is known that parental control in child nutrition can affect the child's eating habits, and bodyweight. Mediterranean Diet (MD) adherence of children (KIDMED), parents' beliefs, attitudes and practices (Preschool Feeding Questionnaire-PFQ2) were investigated. The questionnaire prepared was applied by researchers face-to-face to 1413 families who agreed to participate voluntarily in the research with preschool children. Parental beliefs, attitudes, and practices regarding child nutrition status of parents were evaluated using 39-item PFQ2 and their child's eating habits using the 16-item KIDMED index. Children's KIDMED scores were found optimal in 34.1%, average in 57.0%, very low in 8.9%. The KIDMED scores of children whose parents are together (6.6 ± 2.1) were found to be significantly higher than children whose parents are separated (4.9 ± 2.2) (p <.001). A correlation was found between the KIDMED scores of the children, the parental control (r = 0.156, p <.001), maternal restriction (r = 0.104, p <.001), and structured feeding (r = 0.162, p <.001). Unfortunately, the adherence of most preschool children with the MD which considered a healthy diet pattern was found below the optimal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to evaluate associations between pocket money, Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and growth among Greek adolescents. Methods: A total of 319 (157 boys and 162 girls) Greek adolescents, aged 10-18 years participated in the study. Pocket money was recorded, MD adherence was assessed with the KIDMED score and growth was evaluated using the World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts. Results: Participants receiving pocket money exceeding 6.0€ daily demonstrated increased fast-food consumption and breakfast skipping. Overall, a negative relationship was revealed between pocket money and obesity. However, lower allowance receivers were less likely to be obese, consume fruit per day and more likely to consume breakfast and sweets, compared to average pocket money receivers. Increased MD adherence was associated with a lower risk of overweight and as expected, unhealthy eating habits were observed among obese adolescents. Conclusions: Interrelationships tend to exist between MD adherence, pocket money and growth among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of nutrition transition has been considered to greatly affect diet quality, especially of younger generations. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate, through the use of the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I), several aspects of the diet quality in a sample of Mediterranean adolescents. METHODS: A cross-sectional investigation was conducted during two scholastic years (period October-May of 2012-13 and 2013-14) on 1643 adolescents attending 15 secondary schools of Sicily, southern Italy. Dietary information (through food frequency questionnaire), socio-demographic and lifestyle habits were collected. RESULTS: The mean age of adolescents was 12.4 years and the mean total modified DQI-I score was 52.3% of the total possible score. Adolescents reported an intake of fruit between 50 and 100% of the recommended intake, while for vegetable and fibers more than 40% did not achieve the 50% of the recommendation. BMI, physical activity, breakfast habit and KIDMED were positively associated with DQI-I. CONCLUSIONS: Diet quality of adolescent is low with a low adherence to traditional dietary patterns. Future intervention programs have to focus on increasing consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables and grains as well as in moderation of fat intake in order to achieve a better diet quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to determine nutritional status and related factors associated with poor nutrition of first-year medical students. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 335 first-year students in a faculty of medicine in April 2015. Body mass index was calculated for each subject. Mediterranean Diet Quality Index was used to assess the nutritional status of the students. According to the scores obtained from the index; scores ≥8 indicate optimal diet, scores 4-7 indicate that improvement is needed and scores ≤3 reflect very poor diet quality. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine nutritional status and related variables. The level of p<0.05 was considered as the cut-off value for statistical significance. Results indicated that 48.7% of the participants had very poor diet quality, 47.7% had an improvement needed diet and only 3.6% had optimal diet. According to the body mass index, 17.6% of students were overweight, 1.5% were obese. Nutritional quality was significantly (p<0.05) poorer who were staying in dormitories (3.08 times; 95%CI =1.77-5.36) and were living in a different house away from their family (5.05 times; 95%CI=2.80-9.12) than were living with their family. Firstyear medical student's nutrition quality is poor generally. As health problems will occur in the future according to poor nutrition, programs will be planned to improve the nutritional quality of the university students, especially who are staying in dormitories, living in a different house away from their family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet in a group of Italian high school students, in relation to their lifestyles and social and family contexts, and to compare the nutrition habits of the sample with other similar groups. Methods: The KIDMED index and an ad hoc questionnaire were administered to 1127 students (mean age 16.8 ± 1.6 y) in the province of Florence. Any significant associations between the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the aforementioned variables were assessed by the χ² test and by logistic regression analysis. Results: The adherence to the Mediterranean diet was good in 16.5%, average in 60.5%, and poor in 23% of the students. The students attending technical high schools, those who played sports less than "almost every day", those who spent >3 h/d in sedentary activities, those who defined their school performance as worse than "more than sufficient," and those who referred to use of a car/ moped as the most frequent mode of transportation, had significantly higher odds of poor rather than average or good adherence to Mediterranean diet. Moreover, being normal weight or overweight/obese, and referring to health workers as source of information on diet, seem to be protective factors against poor adherence to Mediterranean diet. Conclusions: Our sample presents a departure from the Mediterranean dietary pattern. It is certainly necessary to implement public health policies targeting teenagers to promote healthier lifestyle choices; the nutritional patterns of the Mediterranean diet should be among these choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adopting an eating pattern complying with the Mediterranean diet not only decreases body fat mass and obesity risk, but also reduces development of various health problems. This study investigated the nutritional awareness and diet quality Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) of Turkish adolescents. The study was conducted with 890 voluntary participants (464 boys and 426 girls) aged 10–14 years. A questionnaire form was used to learn demographic characteristics of the participants. Participants’ nutritional awareness was determined through a 20-item knowledge form and their nutritional habits through a 16-item Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED). The average nutritional knowledge score was X =82.22±0.42. Results indicated that 17.9% of the participants had a low quality diet (≤3 points), 59.2% had a mid-quality/needs-improvement diet (4–7 points) and 22.9% had an optimal quality diet (≥8 points). The study results showed that the subjects’ diet quality was low and that their nutrition knowledge levels were related to their nutritional habits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]