Mixed
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet prevents long-term weight gain and abdominal obesity in individuals who are normal weight at baseline, but does not reverse existing overweight or obesity.
If you are currently a healthy weight, adopting a Mediterranean diet pattern is a strong strategy to prevent future weight gain and belly fat accumulation. However, if you are currently overweight or obese, this diet pattern alone is unlikely to result in significant weight loss or BMI normalization; you likely need to combine it with other interventions like caloric restriction or increased physical activity.
Increasing Italian Mediterranean Index score (indicating better adherence) was associated with lower 5-year weight change in volunteers of normal weight at baseline... but not in those overweight/obese at baseline
Why this rating
Large prospective cohort (n=32,119) with long follow-up (mean 12 years), though reliant on self-reported dietary data.
Source
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and long-term changes in weight and waist circumference in the EPIC-Italy cohort
Claudia Agnoli et al. · Nutrition and Diabetes · 2018
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