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

Written By : Aditi |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2023-09-17T20:00:56+05:30 | Updated On 18 Sept 2023 10:44 AM IST

Several previous studies have shown that dietary patterns are associated with the incidence of depressive symptoms.

Researchers have found in a new study that following dietary patterns rich in processed foods increases the risk of developing depressive symptoms.

This study entitled, "Relationship between dietary pattern and depressive symptoms: an international multicohort study" by Wu et al. and colleagues is published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

It is already known that dietary patterns are related to the incidence of depressive symptoms. But there needs to be more consistency in the results. This background was studied in the present study finding the association between dietary patterns and depressive symptoms risk in two extensive cohort studies.

The Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health or TCLSIH cohort study had 7,094 participants from China ( 2013 – 2019), and the UK Biobank cohort study had 96,810 participants.

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.

BDS, MDS in Periodontics and Implantology

Dr. Aditi Yadav is a BDS, MDS in Periodontics and Implantology. She has a clinical experience of 5 years as a laser dental surgeon. She also has a Diploma in clinical research and pharmacovigilance and is a Certified data scientist. She is currently working as a content developer in e-health services. Dr. Yadav has a keen interest in Medical Journalism and is actively involved in Medical Research writing.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751