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The association between the Mediterranean diet and magnetic resonance parameters for knee osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

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Abstract

The Mediterranean diet appears to be beneficial for osteoarthritis (OA), but the few data available regarding the association between the diet and the condition are limited to X-ray and clinical findings. The current study aimed to investigate the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and knee cartilage morphology, assessed using magnetic resonance (MRI) in a cohort of North American participants. Seven hundred eighty-three participants in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (59.8% females; mean age 62.3 years) in possession of a MRI assessment (a coronal 3D FLASH with Water Excitation MR sequence of the right knee) were enrolled in our cross-sectional study. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated using a validated Mediterranean diet score (aMED). The strength of the association between aMED and knee MRI parameters was gauged using an adjusted linear regression analysis, expressed as standardized betas with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Using an adjusted linear regression analysis, each increase of one standard deviation (SD) in the aMED corresponded to a significant increase in the central medial femoral cartilage volume (beta = 0.12; 95%CI 0.09 to 0.15), in the mean central medial femoral cartilage thickness (beta = 0.13; 95%CI 0.01 to 0.17), in the cartilage thickness of the mean central medial tibiofemoral compartment (beta = 0.12; 95%CI 0.09 to 0.15), and in the cartilage volume of the medial tibiofemoral compartment (beta = 0.09; 95%CI 0.06 to 0.12). Higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet was found to be associated with a significant improvement in knee cartilage as assessed by MRI, even after adjusting for potential confounding factors.

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Funding

The OAI is a public–private partnership comprised of five contracts (N01-AR-2-2258; N01-AR-2-2259; N01-AR-2-2260; N01-AR-2-2261; N01-AR-2-2262) funded by the National Institutes of Health, a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services, and conducted by the OAI Study Investigators. Private funding partners include Merck Research Laboratories; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline; and Pfizer, Inc. Private sector funding for the OAI is managed by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health.

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Author notes

  1. Nicola Veronese and Luciana La Tegola equally contributed to this research.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Council, Neuroscience Institute, Aging Branch, via Giustiniani, 2, Padova, Italy

    Nicola Veronese, Gaetano Crepaldi, Stefania Maggi & Domenico Rogoli

  2. Ambulatory of Clinical Nutrition, National Institute of Gastroenterology-Research Hospital, Saverio de Bellis, Castellana Grotte, Italy

    Nicola Veronese

  3. Department of Radiology, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy

    Luciana La Tegola & Giuseppe Guglielmi

  4. Department of Radiology, Scientific Institute “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” Hospital, San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy

    Giuseppe Guglielmi

Authors
  1. Nicola Veronese
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  2. Luciana La Tegola
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  3. Gaetano Crepaldi
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  4. Stefania Maggi
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  5. Domenico Rogoli
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  6. Giuseppe Guglielmi
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Contributions

Analysis and interpretation of data: Veronese, La Tegola. Draft of the article: La Tegola, Crepaldi. Critical revision for important intellectual content: Maggi, Guglielmi. Statistical analysis: Veronese. All authors approved the version submitted.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicola Veronese.

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The OAI study was granted full ethical approval by the institutional review board of the OAI Coordinating Center at University of California, San Francisco.

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None.

Disclaimer

This manuscript was prepared using an OAI public use dataset and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the OAI investigators, the NIH, or the private funding partners. The sponsors had no role in the design, methods, subject recruitment, data collection, analysis, or preparation of this study.

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Veronese, N., La Tegola, L., Crepaldi, G. et al. The association between the Mediterranean diet and magnetic resonance parameters for knee osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Clin Rheumatol 37, 2187–2193 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-018-4075-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-018-4075-5

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