International Journal Of Occupational Health and Public Health Nursing

Evaluation of the degree of compliance to the Mediterranean diet of workers in Greek Post offices

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  • Abstract

    To have a nutritional assessment of the Hellenic Post Services personnel in relation to the Mediterranean diet model. This cross-sectional study began in June 2012 and the sample collection is still running. It consists of 107 men and women, 63 of the Attica region and 44 from the rest of Greece. A food frequency questionnaire has been used in order employees’ dietary habits to be recorded. The MedDietScore (MDS) was assessed for each one of the employees who later received a personal letter with dietary advice. The determinants of MDS were analyzed through multiple linear regression. The median of the MDS is 32, while at the same time, the grading scale is 0-55. After entering various determinants like place of residence, sex, age, education level, employee position, working years, BMI, smoking and family level at the linear regression, we found that as long as the age and the education level is increased, the MDS is increased by 0,585 (95% CI: 0,524-0,647) and 3,813 (95% CI: 1,66-5,966) respectively, while women in relation to men and employees in relation to their higher level colleagues, have a higher score of 2,964 (95% CI: 0,409-5,519) and 6,653 (95% CI: 3,655-9,652) respectively. Postal workers in Greece tend to decline from the Mediterranean diet. Creating policies and campaigns in order to inform the public about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet on health, is of significant importance.