Sex Differences in the Effects of Repeated Taste Exposure to the Mediterranean Diet: A 6-month Follow-up Study.

Purpose: To determine whether an intervention based mainly on exposure to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), along with recommendations and tools for encouraging healthy eating, lead to different effects on dietary adherence and body weight management six months post-intervention in Canadian men and women.

Methods: Thirty-eight males and 32 premenopausal females (all aged 24-53 years) were exposed to the same 4-week experimental MedDiet during which all foods were provided to participants. Participants also received some recommendations and tools to adhere to a healthy way of eating, with no other contact until the 6-month follow-up visit.

Results: Compared with baseline, the Mediterranean score (MedScore) increased at the end of the 6-month follow-up (time effect P = 0.003), with no sex difference (sex-by-time interaction P = 0.97). With regard to MedScore components, sex differences were observed with males reporting changes in more dietary food groups than females. Although the intervention was not focused on body weight management, compared with baseline, BMI decreased during the intervention in both males and females; however, only females maintained the lower BMI 6 months after the intervention.

Conclusions: Exposure to the MedDiet for a short duration promotes the adherence to this food pattern in both sexes and helps in the management of body weight, especially in females.