ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Sport and Exercise Nutrition
Effects of a Mediterranean Diet and Structured Exercise Intervention on Selected Anthropometric, Cardiovascular, and Metabolic Variables in Physically Inactive Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 2Malatya Turgut Ozal Universitesi, Battalgazi, Türkiye
- 3Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Canada
- 4Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 5Tekirdag Namik Kemal Universitesi, Tekirdağ, Türkiye
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Objective: The study aims to determine whether the combined implementation of Mediterranean diet adherence and structured physical exercise contributes to improvements in body composition and cardiometabolic health indicators in a physically inactive but otherwise healthy adult population. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 125 physically inactive adults (61 males, 64 females) aged 35–50 years, free from cardiovascular, metabolic, or musculoskeletal conditions. Participants were assigned to either an 8-week intervention group (n=62: 30 males, 32 females) combining Mediterranean diet adherence and supervised combined training (3 endurance and 2 resistance sessions per week) or a control group (n=63: 31 males, 32 females) instructed to maintain habits. Anthropometric, cardiovascular, and metabolic variables were assessed pre-and post-intervention under standardized conditions. A 2×2×2 mixed-design ANOVA (group × sex × time) was conducted, with Tukey's post hoc tests applied when significant differences were found. Results: Significant differences over time, between sexes, and between groups were observed in anthropometric, cardiovascular, and metabolic variables. In the experimental group (EG), both men and women experienced significant reductions in body mass, BMI, fat percentage, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, double product, glucose, and LDL cholesterol from pre-to post-test (all p < 0.05, with effect sizes ranging from small to large). Lean mass increased significantly only in the EG, while HDL levels improved predominantly in women. Men and women differed significantly in body mass, BMI, fat percentage, lean mass, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, heart rate, double product, glucose, HDL, and triglycerides at both time points (all p < 0.001). The EG showed significantly greater improvements compared to the control group after the intervention (p < 0.001 for most variables), confirming the intervention's effectiveness. Conclusion: This study provides robust evidence that a lifestyle intervention combining Mediterranean diet adherence with structured physical exercise is an effective and feasible strategy to enhance cardiometabolic health in physically inactive adults. Its multicomponent nature and consistent benefits across sexes support its integration into preventive health programs. Further research is warranted to assess the sustainability of these outcomes and their generalizability to broader populations.
Keywords: mediterranean diet, Cardiometabolic Health, Anthropometric variables, metabolicvariables, Cardiovascular variables, lifestyle intervention, Structured exercise
Received: 29 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Prieto-González, Yagin, Alghannam and Canlı. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Pablo Prieto-González, pprieto@psu.edu.sa
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