SynthesisPloS one2024
Relevance of Mediterranean diet as a nutritional strategy in diminishing COVID-19 risk: A systematic review.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mediterranean Diet, Redox Biomarkers, and Body Composition in ICU Post-COVID-19 Patients.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Why Is the Association Between Mediterranean Diet and Physical Performance in Athletes Inconclusive? Implications for Future Studies.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMediterranean Diet has been reported to possess immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties. These properties are closely associated with the immunopathogenesis of COVID-19.
objectiveThe present systematic review aimed to determine the association between Mediterranean Diet and COVID-19, COVID-19 symptoms, and COVID-19 severity.
methodsThe protocol for this systematic review was registered in International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) with identification number CRD42023451794. The literature search was conducted through Pubmed, Proquest, and Google Scholar on August 2023. The inclusion criteria were studies with a population of human subjects, reported the association between Mediterranean diet adherence with risk of COVID-19 infection, COVID-19 symptoms, or COVID-19 severity, and full text must be available in English. The exclusion criteria were reviews, editorials, letters, replies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, studies on animals, and duplicates. Risk of bias in included studies was assessed using Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS). Data was synthesized narratively. Each study was compared and a structured summary was developed.
resultsAfter selection process, 6 articles were included, with a sample size of 55,489 patients. All studies were observational studies and assessed Mediterranean diet adherence using food frequency questionnaires (FFQ), with scoring system varied between each study. Four studies found a significant correlation between increased adherence to Mediterranean Diet and reduced COVID-19 risk, while one study indicated non-significant association. One study reported a significant association between higher adherence to Mediterranean Diet and COVID-19 symptoms, but three studies reported non-significant association. One study found that individuals with higher adherence to Mediterranean Diet had reduced likelihood of developing severe COVID-19, however, two studies yielded inconclusive findings. LIMITATIONS: All studies used self-administrated food frequency questionnaires (FFQs), which were prone to biased responses, such as recall and estimation bias. DISCUSSION: Lower trends of odds ratios (ORs) were consistently observed in higher Mediterranean diet adherence. In every outcome of the included studies, ORs ranged between 0.06-0.992, however, differing levels of significance were reported in each outcome.
conclusionOverall analyses suggest that high adherence to Mediterranean Diet is a protective factor against COVID-19, with unclear benefits against COVID-19 symptoms and severity.
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Registered trials
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