Mediterranean Personalized Diet Combined with Physical Activity Therapy for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases in Italian Women

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and inflammatory risk indexes are used to calculate the exposure to morbidity. Most of them are suggested by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association to predict the risk of CVDs diagnosis in primary prevention, instead of treating the ongoing pathology. Prevention starts from habit changes with the prescription of diet and physical activity (PA). The aim of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of a personalized Mediterranean Diet (MD) and a PA intervention, on the risk indexes Atherogenic Index of Plasma (AIP), Lipid Accumulation Product (LAP) and Fatty Liver Index (FLI) in a population of women at risk of CVDs with different pathological conditions. After treatment, patients achieved the best results in body composition (BC) and laboratory tests. The BC analysis showed a significant reduction of total body Fat Mass (FM). CVDs risk indexes significantly decreased, except for Neutrophil/Lymphocyte (NLR) and Platelet/Lymphocyte Ratios (PLR). The reduction of the CVDs indexes associated with lipid profile was linked to both weight and FM decrease. AIP and LAP were significantly reduced when losing fat mass and body weight, respectively. A personalized MD therapy plus a PA program led to body weight loss, BC remodelling and risk indexes reduction.