The objective of this study was to examine the association between the most widely known scores used to appraise adherence to the Mediterranean food pattern and weight changes. The cohort included 10,376 Spanish men and women (mean age=38 years) from the ongoing Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (University of Navarra Follow-Up Study) project followed up for 5.7±2.2 years. The mean yearly weight-change gain was +0.244 kg. Partcipants with the highest adherence (≥6 points) to the Mediterranean dietary score (MDS) proposed by Trichopoulou et al. (with a range of 0 to 9) showed smaller weight gains than did the group with the lowest adherence (≤3 points). This inverse association remained statistically significant for 3 of the other Mediterranean scores. The group with the highest adherence to the MDS-Trichopoulou also showed the lowest risk of experiencing an absolute weight gain ≥5 kg after multivariable adjustment during the first 4 years of follow-up (odd ratio [OR]=0.76, 95% CI: 0.62-0.95). Thus, these results suggest that adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern seems to be significantly associated with a reduced weight gain.
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