Deligiannidou, Georgia-EiriniPhilippou, ElenaVasiari, Eirinide Andrade, Vanda LopesMassaro, MarikaChervenkov, MihailIvanova, TeodoraJorge, RuiDimitrova, DessislavaRuskovska, TatjanaMiloseva, LenceMaksimova, ViktorijaSmilkov, KatarinaGjorgieva Ackova, DarinkaGarcía-Conesa, María-TeresaPinto, PaulaKontogiorgis, Christos A.2024-09-062024-09-062024-04-21Deligiannidou, G.-E.; Philippou, E.; Vasiari, E.; de Andrade, V.L.; Massaro, M.; Chervenkov, M.; Ivanova, T.; Jorge, R.; Dimitrova, D.; Ruskovska, T.; et al. Exploring the Relationship between Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Subjective Well-Being among Greek and Cypriot Adults. Nutrients 2024, 16, 1238. https://doi.org/10.3390/ nu160812382072-6643http://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/10013This article belongs to the Special Issue Mediterranean Diet – Health Benefits and Advances.Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/nu16081238/s1, Figure S1: BMI and SWB items variation of means (SD) in response to 14-MEDAS groups; Figure S2: Normality test (histograms); Table S1: Additional lifestyle factors according to the 14-MEDAS score groups; Table S2: Description of PCA Factors (top 5) vs 14-MEDAS score for Male and Female participants; Table S3: Normality test (Shapiro-Wilk test).Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975 (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-ofhelsinki/, accessed on 30 March 2024), revised in 2013, approved by the Ethics Committee of the coordinating Institution: Polytechnic Institute of Santarém, Research Unit, Ref.: 022019 Agrária, Portugal), the Ethics Committee of Research, Democritus University of Thrace, Approval Code: A. Π.: ΔΠΘ/ΕHΔΕ/3457/10, Approval Date: 16/09/2019 and Cyprus Bioethics Committee, Approval Code: EEBK EK 2019.01.100, Approval Date: 24/05/2019.Funding: Paula Pinto and Vanda Andrade were funded by Life Quality Research Centre (CIEQV), funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., Grant/Award Number UIDP/04748/2020, and Research Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society (CERNAS), funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., Grant/Award Number UIDP/00681/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDP/00681/2020). María-Teresa García-Conesa was supported by the AGROALNEXT project (Complementary R+D+I Plan in Agri-food in the Region of Murcia—Spain). Marika Massaro was supported by the Italian Ministry of University and (PRIN-2022 Prot. Prot. 2022NZNZH8). Rui Jorge was funded by Portuguese national funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I.P. FCT/UI/05704/2020.Associations between subjective well-being (SWB) and dietary habits, employment status, and habitual activities are increasingly capturing the focus of researchers as well as policymakers worldwide. This study aimed to explore these associations in a sample of the population in Greece and Cyprus via an online survey. In total, 936 questionnaires (470: Cyprus, 466: Greece) were analyzed to study the associations between the Mediterranean Diet (MD) (using the 14-item MEDAS score, (14-MEDAS)), subjective well-being (SWB), and several socioeconomic factors. Key remarks of this survey highlight the positive impact of MD adherence on some well-being items. Namely, statistically significant differences were found on the following items: Satisfied with life (p < 0.001), Life worthwhile (p < 0.001), Feeling happy (p < 0.001), worried (p = 0.005), and depressed (p = 0.001), when comparing Low MD adherence (14-MEDAS < 5) to High MD adherence (14-MEDAS > 10). Other lifestyle habits such as spending time with friends and family, spending time in nature, and habitual physical activity were associated with aspects of SWB such as Life satisfaction, Life worthwhile, Feeling happy, and energetic. The findings support adherence to the MD, since it is associated with higher life satisfaction and self-reported happiness in this sample and should be considered when developing health policies on well-being.engSubjective well-beingMediterranean diet adherenceGreeceCyprusLifestyleLife satisfactionjournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.3390/nu16081238