An intensive intervention with the Mediterranean diet adding caloric reduction, physical activity, and modest weight loss was more effective than an ad libitum traditional Mediterranean diet in reducing diabetes incidence in overweight/obese persons with metabolic syndrome, in the context of the PREDIMEDplus study (Ruíz-Canela M, Annals of Internal Medicine 2026). Furthermore, we reported that an intensive lifestyle intervention effectively decreased adiposity and cardiovascular risk factors (Salas-Salvadó J, Diabetes Care 2018; Hernando-Redondo J, Front Nutr 2022; Pérez-Vega KA, MNFR 2023) as well as improved diet adherence (Sayón-Orea C, JAMA 2019).
The group is deeply rooted in the Endocrinology Service at Hospital del Mar, which allows our research on the treatment of obesity and its follow-up within the context of primary healthcare. The Morbid Obesity Care Unit at Hospital del Mar, coordinated by Dr. David Benaiges and Dr. Albert Goday, is a multidisciplinary team comprising specialists in endocrinology, surgery, nursing, and nutrition. The unit is dedicated to treating obesity through comprehensive clinical and/or surgical therapy. The group maintains the OBEMAR cohort, consisting of patients who have undergone bariatric surgery, and carries out long-term follow-up.
It has been reported that bariatric surgery improves the lipid profile both quantitatively and qualitatively after 1?year (Castañer O, Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024) and metabolic and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease markers in metabolically healthy patients at 5 years (Goday A, Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2021), and that the type of bariatric surgery affects short-term high-LDL cholesterol remission (Benaiges D, Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2024). On the other hand, the predictive role of biomarkers related to carbohydrate metabolism for cardiovascular diseases onset is also being investigated (Climent E, Cardiovasc Diabetol 2024).
The Endocrinology Department also collaborates with the Hospital del Mar Research Institute researchers on the PREDIMED-Plus study (FIS projects PI: Dr. Goday). Both in the context of PREDIMED-Plus and in the bariatric surgery cohort, the possibility of extending lifestyle interventions to the patient's family or living environment is being investigated (Zomeño MD, International Journal of Obesity, 2020).
The group also focuses on childhood and adolescent obesity, an issue of outmost interest in public health, since our country has one of the highest rates of pediatric overweight and obesity in Europe. Of note, the group has a partnership with Estudio PASOS (Physical Activity, Sedentarism and Obesity of Spanish Youth), led by the Gasol Foundation, involving more 3,800 children and adolescents aged 8-16 from across all Spain (https://gasolfoundation.org/pasos-study/) (Schröder H, BMC Med. 2024). We also are active members of the CORALS Study, which is carried out under the umbrella of CIBEROBN (https://corals.es). This on-going study includes around 1,500 children aged 3 to 6 years, with annual data collection over a 10-year follow-up. The primary goal is to identify risk factors and determinants for childhood obesity through a longitudinal design. The research line has been recently expanded after the agreement of collaboration between Dr. Iolanda Lázaro and the LiverKids Study, which uses non-invasive imaging techniques in children and adolescents in order to achieve early diagnosis of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
The Group has initiated research into the transition of care for adolescents living with obesity from pediatric to adult professionals. The study of transition programs in children and adolescents with chronic illnesses is an area of ??interest, but until recently it had been ignored in the obesity field (Goday A, Rev Endocr Metab Disord. 2025).
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