Adapting Food Culture to the Mediterranean Pattern for International Students in Italy
NCT Number: NCT06474936
Acronym: MeditEat
Status: RECRUITING
Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
Phases: NA
Conditions: Physical Inactivity|Eating Disorders|Eating Habit|Diet, Healthy|Diet Habit
Interventions: BEHAVIORAL: Food education
Sponsor: University of Pavia
Sex: ALL
Age: ADULT, OLDER_ADULT
Enrollment: 23
Study Design: Allocation: NA|Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP|Masking: NONE|Primary Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Start Date: 2024-05-01
Completion Date: 2025-11-01
Locations: Laboratory of Food Education and Sport Nutrition, Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, Pavia, 27100, Italy|University of Pavia, Pavia, 27100, Italy

Summary:
The goal of this clinical trial is to describe the adherence to the Mediterranean diet, the nutritional status, the level of physical activity, and possible eating disorders in international students attending the University of Pavia before and after a food education intervention. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does the intervention of food education change the nutritional status of the international students of the University of Pavia? Does the intervention of food education change the level of physical activity of international students of the University of Pavia? Does the intervention of food education change the possible risk of eating disorders related to the possible change of diet from the country of origin of international students? Researchers will compare the measurements done at the first meeting to the measurements made at the last meeting (6 months) to see if the food educational intervention helped the students.

Participants will:

* have the body composition analysed by anthropometric measurements (weight, height, electric bio impedance)
* Receive personalized guidance and support from our team of experts for 6 months.

Visit the clinic 3 times (beginning, 3 months, and by the end of 6 months) for check-ups and tests, and participate in online meetings the other 3 months (second, fourth, and fifth).

Answer online questionnaires and perform a 3-day food diary (beginning, 3 months, and by the end of 6 months).

Primary Outcome Measures: Mediterranean Diet Adhrence, Mediterranean Diet Score9 (MEDI-LITE): a tool for measuring adherence to the Mediterranean diet. It assigns points based on the frequency of consumption of nine food categories: (1) fruit; (2) vegetables; (3) cereal grains; (4) legumes; (5) fish and fish products; (6) meat and meat products; (7) dairy products; (8) alcohol intake and (9) olive oil. The final score was obtained by summing these values, and it varies from 0 (low adherence) to 18 (high adherence)., 6 months
Secondary Outcome Measures: Short Form Health Survey, The SF-36, short for the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey, is a widely used and well-established tool in the field of health-related quality of life assessment. Higher scores mean a better outcome., 6 months|Weight, Standardised measurements: weight in kilograms, 6 months|Dietary evaluation, Food diaries: will be requested for all participants a 3-day food diary by baseline, 3 and 6 months. These diaries will be calculated by macro and micronutrient intake. Food frequency questionnaire 110 items will be applied at T0, T3 and T6. The presence of typical Mediterranean food will be considered as a marker of acculturation., 6 months|Height, Standardised measurements: Height in centimeters (cm), 6 months|Skin folds, Skin folds (in millimeters) will be recorded by an expert dietician according to standardized procedures (Lohman, 1988)., 6 months|Body Composition BIA, The Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, which is a non-invasive and commonly used method for assessing body composition (BIA 101 BIVA PROTM- AKERN) in terms of percentage of fat mass (%)., 6 months|Physical activity, Standardized tool used to assess an individual's physical activity levels and patterns. Higher scores mean a better outcome., 6 months|Fat mass, The evaluation of body composition will be carried out on the basis of skinfold measurements, and using the Bioelectrical Impedance Analysi. The median from the 2 measurements (skinfold and BIA) for fat mass will be used (in percentage)., 6 months