The project
MED4Youth project aims to demonstrate how an energy-restricted Mediterranean-style diet intervention is effective against youth obesity and reveal the mechanisms through which the Mediterranean Diet exerts the beneficial effects through a holistic omics-based system biology approach.
To do so, MED4Youth will carry out a clinical and Mediterranean Diet-based study with 240 teenagers (13-16 years old) from Italy, Portugal and Spain for 4 months. In the study, the effects of a Mediterranean Diet, including products such as sourdough bread, pomegranate, hummus and mixed nuts, will be compared with the effects of a conventional low-fat diet.
Duration: 36 months
Mediterranean Diet Design
Currently, there is a lack of evidence on health events of the Mediterranean Diet in adolescents with obesity.
MED4Youth will shed light on the beneficial effects of an energy-restricted Mediterranean Diet against obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in comparison with a conventional low-fat diet through a clinical study carried out in a large group of teenagers from different Mediterranean countries.
Microbiota and gut-derived metabolites
There is not sufficient information available on the interplay between the Mediterranean Diet, gut’s microbiota and metabolome and youth obesity.
MED4Youth will associate healthy effects of the Mediterranean Diet with beneficial changes in gut microbiota and gut-derived metabolites.
Healthier and nutritious Mediterranean food products
The general population, and especially young people, are progressively abandoning the Mediterranean Diet.
MED4Youth will incorporate mixed nuts and non-widely consumed healthy foods (sourdough bread, hummus and pomegranate) widely in a large number of households. Scientific evidence on the health effects of hummus and pomegranate intake in youth obesity will be assessed.
Dietary patterns assessment
There is little information on the application of metabolomics for the identification of dietary patterns.
MED4youth will identify consumption biomarkers at different levels (food item and food group) taking into account individual differences.
Objectives
Work Packages
Data privacy and Ethics
This Work Package has the objective to safeguard to comply with the necessary data privacy protocols and ethics issues.
Design of the dietary needs
Includes issues related to the design and the standardization of the Mediterranean Diet and low-fat diets, as well as the design and the choice of the sourdough bread and the nutritional characterization of the bread and the products from the Mediterranean basin.
Multi-centre interventions
This Work Package will carry out interventional studies with obese adolescents in a multi-cultural and multi-social environment in 3 different EU-countries (Portugal, Italy and Spain).
Nutritional assessment and analyses of biomarkers of food intake, health and microbiota status
This Work Package focuses on the analyses of food consumption and health biomarkers by validated conventional and omics techniques.
Multidata analysis
Includes univariate and multivariate analyses as well as data integration by a system biology approach to identify the health effects of Mediterranean Diet. Potential co-variates (gender, age, height) will be assessed, and, if appropriate, incorporated into the models.
Environmental, social, economic and policy issues
This WP is devoted to carry out environmental impact assessment, as well as socio-economic studies to reinforce the outcomes of the project not only from a health point of view.
Market assessment, dissemination and communication
It implies interacting with stakeholders and environment networks, the academic community, policy and decision-makers’ government in order to raise awareness of project developments. A good IPR management strategy will be established to guarantee a proper explotaition.
Project Management
It ensures a timely accomplishment of all tasks, deliverables and milestones and EC requirements, as well as coordination within the consortium.