Adherence to the Mediterranean diet increased during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy: results from the web-based Medi-Lite questionnaire

The aims of this study were to assess the Mediterranean Diet (MD) adherence in 2566 Italians who completed the validated Medi-Lite questionnaire during the year 2020, and to investigate the effect of COVID-19 confinement on dietary habits and MD adherence. To do this, we compared subjects (n = 389) that answered the questionnaire during the confinement occurred in Italy from March to May 2020 with subjects (n = 653) who completed the questionnaire in the same period (March-May) of the previous year (2019). From the results, a moderate level of MD adherence in the total sample emerged, and a significantly (p<.0001) increased adherence during lockdown was observed. Specifically, during confinement significantly (p < 0.05) higher consumption of vegetables (+9.4%), legumes (+13.5%) and pasta (+12.9%) emerged, while lower consumption was reported for bread (-13.4%) and meat and meat products (-15.4%). This study showed increased adherence to MD and a better-quality diet during the COVID-19 confinement in Italy.