ArticleClinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)2022
Mediterranean diet and the risk of COVID-19 in the 'Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra' cohort.
Article in Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gender and sex differences in adherence to a Mediterranean diet and associated factors during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- Diet Quality and Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Infection or COVID-19: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2023Pooled it
- COVID-19 risk, course and outcome in people with mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analyses.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of adherence to high-quality dietary pattern on COVID-19 outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of medical virology · 2023Pooled it
- Intensive Weight-Loss Lifestyle Intervention Using Mediterranean Diet and COVID-19 Risk in Older Adults: Secondary Analysis of PREDIMED-Plus Trial.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2023Trial
- Adherence to the Mediterranean diet, particularly olive oil intake, and metabolic health parameters are independently associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-induced IgG responses.Metabolism open · 2026Article
- Article
- Cohort Profile Update: The 'Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra' (SUN) study after 24 years of follow-up.International journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Post-COVID Metabolic Fallout: A Growing Threat of New-Onset and Exacerbated Diabetes.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Article
- The Impact of Diet Quality on COVID-19 Severity and Outcomes-A Scoping Review.Current nutrition reports · 2025Article
- Coffee and Green Tea Consumption With the Risk of COVID-19 Among the Vaccine Recipients in Japan: A Prospective Study.Journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Observational
- Risk Factors for Eating Disorders in University Students: The RUNEAT Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Clinical Evidence on the Potential Beneficial Effects of Diet and Dietary Supplements against COVID-19 Infection Risk and Symptoms' Severity.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Mediterranean diet improves blastocyst formation in women previously infected COVID-19: a prospective cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Gut microbiome and clinical and lifestyle host factors associated with recurrent positive RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Association of COVID-19 Infection with Sociodemographic, Anthropometric and Lifestyle Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study in an Older Adults' Population Aged over 65 Years Old.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Interwoven challenges of covid-19, poor diet, and cardiometabolic health.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND &
aimsA 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.
methodsWe 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.
resultsAmong 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 < 0.001) as compared with participants with MDS ≤ 3. This inverse association remained robust within subgroups and in sensitivity analyses. Notwithstanding, no significant associations were observed for health professionals (p for interaction = 0.06).
conclusionIn conclusion, better adherence to the Mediterranean diet may be associated with a lower risk of COVID-19. Our results are applicable only to persons who are not health professionals.
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