Dietary patterns rich in processed foods associated with higher risk of depressive symptoms

The team evaluated Depressive symptoms using the Chinese version of the SDS in TCLSIH or hospital inpatient records in UK Biobank.

The key results of the study are:

• 989 and 1,303 participants developed depressive symptoms during 17,410 and 709,931 person-years of follow-up.
• In the TCLSIH cohort study, the multivariable HRs of the depressive symptoms were 0.71, 1.29 and 1.22 for traditional Chinese dietary patterns, processed animal offal including animal food dietary patterns, and sugar-rich dietary patterns.
• In the UK Biobank, the HRs of depressive symptoms were 1.39, 0.90 and 0.89 for processed, healthy, and meat dietary patterns.

Yeqing Gu said that our study found that Dietary patterns rich in processed foods are tied to a higher risk of depressive symptoms.

We also noted that following a traditional Chinese or healthy dietary pattern has a lower risk of depressive symptoms, whereas a meat dietary pattern was not associated.

The study's Strengths are the large sample size and dietary assessment tool.

Dietary modification may be a potential target for preventing depressive disorders, the study highlights.

Further reading:

https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-023-01461-x