(P14-013-23) Associations Between Personality Traits, Mediterranean Diet and Metabolomics in Subjects With Metabolic Syndrome

Objectives: It is known that personality influences adherence to drug treatments and that some studies have associated neuroticism with less healthy diets. However, most studies analyzing dietary patterns have not measured personality traits and therefore very little information exists on this relationship. Our objective was to analyze the influence of personality traits, mainly neuroticism, with adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and to explore whether there is an association between personality traits and serum metabolite concentrations in a Mediterranean population with metabolic syndrome.

Methods: We have used the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R), complete version (83 items), to measure the different dimensions of personality in 400 elderly people and metabolic syndrome from the PREDIMED-Plus-Valencia study. EPQ-R measures three major dimensions: Extraversion/Introversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism or Tough-mindedness, as well as a complementary scale of social desirability. Global adherence to the MedDiet was assessed with the 17-item validated questionnaire. In addition food intake was measured by a food frequency questionnaire. Serum metabolites were determined on an international platform (Finland) using nuclear magnetic resonance.

Results: The personality dimension most associated with adherence to the MedDiet was neuroticism (high scores indicate high anxiety and irritating emotional feelings; while low scores represent emotional stability). Neuroticism was inversely associated with less adherence to the MedDiet (p < 0.01). This association was consistently observed in both men and women (P < 0.05). Fish consumption by men and nut consumption by women were the foods most strongly associated with neuroticism (p < 0.01). We found significant associations between various personality traits and metabolite concentrations. Among these, the association of neuroticism with serum acetate (microbiota-related) levels, was consistently observed (p < 0.05 in both sexes).

Conclusions: Personality traits are associated with adherence to MedDiet and serum metabolites, highlighting the association between greater neuroticism and less adherence.

Funding Sources: Generalitat Valenciana PROMETEO/2021/021; ISCIII-CIBER 06/03; AEI PID2019-108858RB-I00