Association between Skin Carotenoid Score Measured with Veggie Meter and Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet among Adolescents from Southern Italy.

The Veggie Meter (Longevity Link Corporation, Salt Lake City, UT, USA), is a new portable device for the non-invasive and rapid detection of skin carotenoid content, which represents an acceptable biomarker for the evaluation of fruit and vegetable (FV) intake. FVs are important components of a healthy diet, including the Mediterranean Diet (MD), which is a plant-based dietary pattern. Here, we evaluated the adherence to the MD via the administration of two online food questionnaires, and we measured the skin carotenoid content using the Veggie Meter in a cohort of 498 healthy adolescents (233 males and 265 females) from Southern Italy.