Adherence to Mediterranean diet and food literacy among asthma adult patients as compared to healthy adults: A case control study

Abstract Introduction: This study was conducted to assess nutritional literacy and adherence to healthy dietary habits among patients with asthma compared to their matching controls without asthma. Methods This was a case-control study. The participants in both groups underwent spirometry. Sociodemographic variables, frequency of using labelled nutritional facts, dietary habits, and the extent to which daily routine habits/feelings affected eating habits were collected. The participants were also asked to answer a knowledge test on healthy diet and items in the Mediterranean lifestyle index. Results In this study, 65 patients with asthma and 50 matching controls were included. The FEV1/FVC was significantly lower for patients with asthma (77.7 72.1, 83.6 vs. 90.5 84.0, 95.0, p-value < 0.001). Significantly more patients with asthma faced difficulty buying enough food (p-value < 0.001) compared to the controls. The Newest Vital Sign (NVS) quiz showed that the patients with asthma more frequently identified the allergic components in the product after reading the label compared to the controls. Patients with asthma reported significantly higher frequent drinking skim or 1% milk (p-value = 0.016) compared to their matching controls. On the other hand, the patients with asthma reported less frequent using low fat cheese (p-value = 0.047) and using frozen yogurt instead of ice-cream (p-value = 0.044) compared to their matching controls. Similarly, the patients with asthma reported significantly higher frequent adding cheese and mayonnaise (p-value = 0.006) compared to their matching controls. patients with asthma reported significantly higher efficacy scores compared to their matching controls (p-value = 0.048). Controls were less frequently adherent to the recommended amounts of fish compared to the patients with asthma (p-value = 0.018). On the other hand, patients with asthma were less adherent to the recommended amounts of eggs compared to their matching controls (p-value = 0.001). Conclusion Differences in adherence to healthy dietary habits were identifying between patients with asthma and their matching controls. Future interventional studies should be conducted to increase adherence to healthy dietary habits among patients with asthma.