Mediterranean Diet and Motivation in Sport: A Comparative Study Between University Students from Spain and Romania Chacón Cuberos, Ramón Badicu, Georgian Zurita Ortega, Félix Castro Sánchez, Manuel Mediterranean diet Motivational climate Sports University students Background: The Mediterranean Diet (MD) is one of the healthiest dietary models worldwide, being an essential mean of preventing pathologies along with the practice of physical activity. Through a comparative study carried out across different countries, it has been demonstrated how this type of habits vary depending on the geographical context. The aim of this research was to evaluate the adherence to MD and its relationships with motivational climate in sport on a sample of university students from Spain and Romania; Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of university students [specialization: Physical Education (n = 605; 20.71± 2.42 years old)], using as main instruments the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) for students and adolescents and the Perceived Motivational Climate in Sport Questionnaire-2 (PMCSQ-2); Results: It was shown that students from Spain had a high adherence to the MD (6.65 ± 2.63 vs. 5.06 ± 1.31). Spanish university students got higher scores in task-oriented motivational climate (4.03 ± 0.62 vs. 3.11 ± 0.55) while ego-oriented climate was higher in university students from Romania (3.24 ± 0.54 vs. 2.07 ± 0.75). Finally, it was observed that the task-oriented motivational climate was related to a lower adherence to MD in Spanish students (4.49 ± 0.37 vs. 3.98 ± 0.62). In contrast, in Romanian youth, a medium adherence to the MD was associated with higher scores for the ego-oriented motivational climate (3.27 ± 0.53 vs. 3.00 ± 0.54); Conclusions: As main conclusions, it was shown that the students from Spain had a high adherence to the MD. In addition, it has been demonstrated that ego-oriented climates are linked to a better adherence to MD, especially due to the importance of following a proper diet in sport contexts, as demonstrated by young Romanians. 2019-03-18T13:13:36Z 2019-03-18T13:13:36Z 2018-12-20 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Chacón-Cuberos, R. [et al.]. Mediterranean Diet and Motivation in Sport: A Comparative Study Between University Students from Spain and Romania. Nutrients 2019, 11, 30. [doi: doi:10.3390/nu11010030] 2072-6643 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/55007 10.3390/nu11010030 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI