title: Alcohol consumption and Mediterranean Diet adherence among health science students in Spain: the DiSA-UMH Study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the association between consumption of different alcoholic beverages and adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional analysis was conducted of the baseline data of the DiSA-UMH study, an ongoing cohort study with Spanish health science students (n=1098) aged 17-35 years. Dietary information was collected by a validated 84-item food frequency questionnaire. Participants were grouped into non-drinkers, exclusive beer and/or wine drinkers and drinkers of all types of alcoholic beverages. Mediterranean diet adherence was determined by using a modification of the relative Mediterranean Diet Score (rMED; score range: 0-16) according to consumption of 8 dietary components. We performed multiple linear and multinomial regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean alcohol consumption was 4.3g/day (SD: 6.1). A total of 19.5%, 18.9% and 61.6% of the participants were non-drinkers, exclusive beer and/or wine drinkers and drinkers of all types of alcoholic beverages, respectively. Participants who consumed beer and/or wine exclusively had higher rMED scores than non-drinkers (β: 0.76, 95%CI: 0.25-1.27). Drinkers of all types of alcoholic beverages had similar rMED scores to non-drinkers. Non-drinkers consumed less fish and more meat, whereas drinkers of all types of alcoholic beverages consumed fewer fruits, vegetables and more meat than exclusive beer and/or wine drinkers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall alcohol consumption among the students in our study was low-to-moderate. Exclusive beer and/or wine drinkers differed regarding the Mediterranean diet pattern from non-drinkers and drinkers of all types of alcohol. These results show the need to properly adjust for diet in studies of the effects of alcohol consumption.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scholz
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain. Electronic address: enavarrete@umh.es.
authors.forename: Eva Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Navarrete-Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garcia de la Hera
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gimenez-Monzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Palacios
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Desirée
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Valera-Gran
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Torres-Collado
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Miguel Hernandez University, Campus San Juan, Alicante, Spain; CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain.
authors.forename: Jesus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vioque
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean; D006801:Humans; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013336:Students, Health Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol drinking; Alcoholic beverages; Bebidas alcohólicas; Consumo de alcohol; Diet; Dieta; Dieta mediterránea; Estudiantes; Health occupations; Mediterranean Diet; Profesionales sanitarios; Students