Nutrition And Food In Health And Disease

en Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and cardiometabolic risk factors in morbid obese patients candidate for bariatric surgery Nutrition Nutrition پژوهشي Research Background and Objectives: Morbid obesity significantly increases the risk of cardiometabolic disorders, complicating bariatric surgery outcomes. This study assessed the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and cardiometabolic risk factors among morbidly obese individuals undergoing bariatric surgery evaluation. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 369 morbidly obese patients (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m² or BMI ≥35 kg/m² with comorbidities) referred to Hazrat Rasul Akram Hospital obesity clinic between September 2023 and September 2024. Dietary intakes were evaluated by a validated food frequency questionnaire. Cardiometabolic risk factors were assessed according to ATP III criteria, including blood pressure, fasting blood sugar (FBS), triglycerides (TG), HDL cholesterol, and anthropometric measurements. Participants were categorized into quartiles based on MD adherence. Results: Participants in the highest quartile of MD adherence exhibited significantly lower odds of elevated blood pressure (OR=0.34, 95% CI: 0.16–0.70, p-trend=0.01), low HDL cholesterol levels (OR=0.34, 95% CI: 0.16–0.70, p-trend=0.03), and elevated fasting blood sugar (OR=0.42, 95% CI: 0.20–0.87, p-trend=0.03). No significant associations were found for triglyceride levels. Conclusions: Higher adherence to the MD is inversely associated with key cardiometabolic risk factors among morbidly obese patients preparing for bariatric surgery. These results support integrating MD-based dietary interventions into preoperative nutritional counselling to improve cardiometabolic outcomes and surgical success. Mediterranean diet, Cardiometabolic risk factors, Bariatric surgery 45 52 http://nfsr.sbmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1174-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Fatemeh S. Hosseini fatemehhosseiniii1999@gmail.com 10031947532846007166 10031947532846007166 No Department of Nutrition, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Seyed Ali Keshavarz s_akeshavarz@yahoo.com 10031947532846007167 10031947532846007167 Yes Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Hastimansooreh Ansar* hastiansar@gmail.com 10031947532846007168 10031947532846007168 No Department of Cellular and Molecular Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Science.