Mediterranean diet and the risk of COVID-19 in the ‘Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra’ cohort

A potential protection against COVID-19 by a high-quality dietary pattern is to be expected given the biological plausibility supporting the beneficial effects of an adequate dietary intake on the immune system. However, knowledge on the relationship between long-term maintained healthy dietary patt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2022-12, Vol.41 (12), p.3061-3068
Main Authors: Perez-Araluce, R., Martinez-Gonzalez, M.A., Fernández-Lázaro, C.I., Bes-Rastrollo, M., Gea, A., Carlos, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - prevention & control
Diet, Mediterranean
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Health professionals
Humans
Incidence
Male
Mediterranean diet
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
SARS-CoV-2
Spain - epidemiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:A potential protection against COVID-19 by a high-quality dietary pattern is to be expected given the biological plausibility supporting the beneficial effects of an adequate dietary intake on the immune system. However, knowledge on the relationship between long-term maintained healthy dietary patterns, such as the Mediterranean diet, and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection is still sparse. We longitudinally assessed this association in a well-known Mediterranean cohort. We assessed 9,677 participants from the SUN Project, a prospective cohort of middle-aged university graduates in Spain. We inquired about a positive result in a COVID-19 diagnostic test during the months of February to December 2020. After excluding health professionals (HP), 5,194 participants were included in the statistical analyses (mean age: 52.6, SD: 12.4; 55.2% women). Food habits were assessed at baseline using a previously validated semiquantitative 136-item food frequency questionnaire. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet (cumulative average of 2 repeated measurements 10 years apart) was assessed using the 0-to-9 Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS). We used multivariable logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for incident COVID-19 according to the MDS. Among 5,194 non-HP participants, 122 reported to have received a positive COVID-19 diagnostic test. Participants with intermediate adherence to the Mediterranean diet (3 < MDS ≤ 6) had a significantly lower odds of developing COVID-19 (multivariable-adjusted OR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.34–0.73), and those with the highest adherence (MDS > 6) exhibited the lowest risk (multivariable-adjusted OR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.16–0.84, p for trend 
ISSN:0261-5614
1532-1983
DOI:10.1016/j.clnu.2021.04.001