Combining a Mediterranean Diet With Physical Activity to Address Cardiometabolic Risk

Summary

There is little doubt scientifically that healthy eating, such as adhering to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) principles, is key for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). There is also convincing evidence for a strong inverse relationship between moderate intensity physical activity (PA) and mortality. Surprisingly, no study has yet formally documented how the combination of a MedDiet and regular PA improves cardiometabolic health in high-risk individuals. Why is this an important issue to address? On the one hand, a rigorous demonstration that the combination of a healthy diet and PA is better than the sum of each part in terms of cardiometabolic benefits will underpin the importance of advocating the combination of both modalities systematically to maximize health effects. Alternatively (and provocatively), results showing that healthy eating and PA have non-additive or non-synergistic effects will imply that one needs to adhere to only one of these two lifestyle modalities to maximizes cardiometabolic benefits. The overarching aim of this research is to test the hypothesis that consumption of a MedDiet combined with PA do act synergistically to improve cardiometabolic risk. The investigators hypothesize that healthy eating and PA act in synergy to reduce postprandial lipemia, a powerful independent risk factor for coronary heart disease.

Conditions

• Cardiometabolic Risk

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Mediterranean diet (MedDiet)

Participants randomized in the Mediterranean diet group without physical activity will be instructed and supported towards adhering to principles of the Mediterranean diet, without changes in physical activity habits.

BEHAVIORAL

Physical activity (PA)

Participants randomized in the group physical activity without Mediterranean diet will participate in a structured, supervised PA program to achieve 150 min of moderate PA per week, without changes in dietary habits.

BEHAVIORAL

Mediterranean diet and physical activity

The combination group (MedDiet + PA) will receive the combination of both interventions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Laval University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Benoît Lamarche, PhD · Laval University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-10-22

Primary Completion

2023-04-24

Completion

2023-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations