Age (years) Years of education Current smoking (%) Physical activity status Inactive (%) Minimally active (%) HEPA (%) METs min/week Body mass index (kg/m2) SBP (mm Hg) DBP (mm Hg) Hypertension (%) Total cholesterol (mg/dL) LDL-cholesterol (mg/dL) Hypercholesterolemia (%) TAC (μmol/L) 300 280 260 tan l/)L240 id o220 x m io (µ200 t y lan itc 180 taoT caap116400 120 100 n = 504 44 ± 11 11 ± 4 49 63 64 59 965 ± 1512 27 ± 5 129 ± 17 83 ± 11 51 197 ± 43 134 ± 43 45 225 ± 33 288 228 230 P⊥ .01 .001 .21 .001 .03 .04 .003 .25 .001 .14 .07 .08 .002 TAC: total antioxidant capacity; SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; LDL: low density lipoprotein. Data are presented as mean ± SD and percentages. No signiﬁcant interactions were observed between tertile of diet score and sex. ⊥ Probability values are derived from ANOVA and evaluate the association between tertiles of diet score and the investigated variables, after adjusting for sex. ∗P-value < .05; ∗∗P-value < .01 for the comparisons between 2nd, 3rd tertile versus 1st tertile of diet group. n = 509 43 ± 7 9 ± 4 40 70 71 65 26 ± 3 129 ± 18 80 ± 11 50 196 ± 40 126 ± 39 51 231 ± 26 n = 509 45 ± 7∗ 10 ± 4 39 22∗∗ 21∗∗ 25∗∗ 688 ± 1027∗ 24 ± 4∗ 120 ± 18∗∗ 75 ± 12 36∗∗ 190 ± 42 120 ± 37 47 239 ± 29∗ n = 510 47 ± 6∗∗ 13 ± 3 38 8∗∗ 8∗∗ 10∗∗ 901±1281∗∗ 24 ± 3∗ 120 ± 19∗∗ 75 ± 10 10∗∗ 188 ± 47 120 ± 41 25 255 ± 44∗∗ 4 Cardiology Research and Practice Table 1: Lifestyle, clinical, and biochemical characteristics of the participants, according to Mediterranean diet score. Men (n = 1514) Women (n = 1528) Tertile of diet score 1st (0–20) 2nd (21–35) 3rd (36–55) 1st (0–20) 2nd (21–35) 3rd (36–55) 257 245 232 253 240 245 Very close Close Away Inactive Macitni-ve HaEcPtiAve Figure 1: TAC levels and physical activity status (inactive, min- active, and HEPA active) by MedDietScore that assessed adherence to the Mediterranean diet (away, close, and very close). These ﬁndings suggest that regular exercise in combina- tion with this speciﬁc dietary pattern may have beneﬁcial eﬀect on cardiovascular system through another patho- physiological mechanism, that is, their ability to modulate n = 505 42 ± 8 13 ± 4 46 26∗∗ 26∗∗ 25∗∗ 976 ± 1495 26 ± 4 125 ± 18∗ 81 ± 14 27∗∗ 194 ± 41 124 ± 38 39 242 ± 31∗∗ n = 505 48 ± 7∗∗ 14 ± 5 44 11∗∗ 10∗∗ 16∗∗ 25 ± 5∗ 125 ± 17∗ 80 ± 11 20∗∗ 194 ± 43 124 ± 42 36 251 ± 32∗∗ 1429 ± 2023∗∗ 728 ± 1262 oxidation process. Moreover, the results had clearly shown that highly active people who exercise several days per week enjoyed greater protection from the oxidative process due to higher TAC levels. The degree of physical activity was positively correlated with TAC, and another interesting ﬁnding of the study was that both men and women who belonged to the highly active group (HEPA active) were also those, who followed dietary patterns closer to the Mediterranean diet. A large number of observational studies have suggested that people with greater adoption of the Mediterranean diet (i.e., high intakes of fruits, vegetables, and olive oil) experience lower risk of coronary heart disease events [3, 14, 16, 17, 32, 33]. However, the data in changes of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in humans is conﬂicting. Some investigators observed that in patients with coronary heart disease, α-tocopherol treatment signiﬁcantly reduces the rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction, while others reported that although vitamin E supplementation increased blood vitamin concentrations, it did not produce any signiﬁcant reductions in the morbidity or mortality of any type of cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition, based on a systematic review in the literature, Blomhoﬀ [34] concluded that although observational studies have suggested that antioxidants may reduce oxidative stress, clinical trials do not support these beneﬁts. Therefore, the scientiﬁc research