Adherence to Mediterranean Diet Linked to Lower Prevalence of Overactive Bladder

THURSDAY, Nov. 6, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced prevalence of overactive bladder (OAB), according to a study published online Oct. 8 in the Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition.

Li Wang, from The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University in China, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2005 to 2018 to examine the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet, assessed by the alternative Mediterranean diet (aMED) score, and the prevalence of OAB in U.S. adults younger than 65 years. The aMED score was classified into quartiles, and the association with OAB was examined.

The researchers found that higher aMED scores were associated with lower odds of OAB among 23,104 participants (odds ratio, 0.996). Individuals in the highest aMED quartile (Q4) had significantly lower odds of OAB than those in Q1 in the fully adjusted model, accounting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, poverty-to-income ratio, education level, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, energy intake, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (odds ratio, 0.832). A nonlinear association was seen between the aMED score and OAB in a restricted cubic spline analysis, with the relationship potentially modified by poverty level.

“Given the limitations of pharmacological therapies, dietary modification may represent a low-cost, sustainable, and non-pharmacological strategy for OAB management,” the authors write.

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