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The effect of Mediterranean diet on inflammatory biomarkers and components of metabolic syndrome in adolescent girls

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A Correction to this article was published on 17 July 2023

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Abstract

Background

The prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) during childhood and adolescence is rising significantly worldwide. Previous studies have shown that following a healthy dietary pattern, like the Mediterranean diet (MD), might be an efficacious approach for the prevention and management of MetS during childhood. In the present study, we aimed to examine the effect of MD on inflammatory markers and components of MetS among adolescent girls with MetS.

Methods

This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 70 girl adolescents with metabolic syndrome. Patients in the intervention group followed a prescribed MD, while participants in the control group received dietary advice according to the food pyramid. The length of intervention was 12 weeks. Participants’ dietary intakes were evaluated using three 1-day food records throughout the study. Anthropometric measures, inflammatory markers, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and hematological factors were assessed at the baseline and end of the trial. An intention-to-treat approach was taken into account for the statistical analysis.

Results

After 12 weeks, participants in the intervention group had lower weight (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001), body mass index (BMI) (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001), and waist circumference (WC) (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001) compared with those in the control group. In addition, MD resulted in a significantly reduced systolic blood pressure compared to the those in the control group (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001). In terms of metabolic variables, MD led to a significant decrease in fasting blood glucose (FBS) (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001), triglycerides (TG) (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001), homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (Ptime*group = 0/02) and a meaningful increase in serum levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (Ptime*group ≤ 0/001). In addition, adherence to the MD resulted in a significant reduction in serum levels of inflammatory markers including Interleukin 6 (IL-6) (Ptime*group = 0/02) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (Ptime*group = 0/02). However, no significant effect was seen on serum levels of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) (Ptime*group = 0/43).

Conclusion

Overall, the findings of the present study revealed that consumption of MD for 12 weeks resulted in a favorable effect on anthropometric measures, components of MetS, as well as on some inflammatory biomarkers.

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Data availability

The data generated or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are sincerely grateful to the patients who participated in the present study

Funding

The financial support for this study comes from the Tehran Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center and the Tehran University of Medical Science. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Author information

Author notes

  1. F. Asoudeh and M. Fallah are the co-first authors with equal contribution.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    F. Asoudeh & K. Djafarian

  2. Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 14155-6117, Tehran, Iran

    M. Fallah, A. Aminianfar & A. Esmaillzadeh

  3. Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Disease, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    A. Aminianfar

  4. Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Vali-Asr Hospital, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    N. Shirzad

  5. Centre for Intelligent Healthcare, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK

    C. C. T. Clark

  6. Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    B. Larijani

  7. Obesity and Eating Habits Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular-Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    A. Esmaillzadeh

  8. Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    A. Esmaillzadeh

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  1. F. Asoudeh
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Contributions

FA, MF and AA contributed to the data acquisition, analysis, interpretation of the data, and manuscript writing; KDj, NS, BL and AE contributed to the study design, interpretation of the data and final revision of the manuscript; CC contributed to the writing and final revision of the manuscript. All the authors approved the submitted version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Esmaillzadeh.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing this paper.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Tehran Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran, Iran (IR.TUMS.EMRI.REC.1397.038).

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All study participants and their parents provided informed written consent prior to the study commencement.

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Asoudeh, F., Fallah, M., Aminianfar, A. et al. The effect of Mediterranean diet on inflammatory biomarkers and components of metabolic syndrome in adolescent girls. J Endocrinol Invest 46, 1995–2004 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-023-02027-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-023-02027-1

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