Although previous studies demonstrated an association between fast food intake and anxiety symptoms in adolescents, this relationship has not been studied in Chinese multi-ethnic adolescents. The purpose of this study is to investigate the aforementioned association and the potential moderating effect of regulatory emotional self-efficacy (RESE) among Chinese multi-ethnic adolescents.

A cluster random sampling of 8500 middle school students from 11 counties in Yunnan province was conducted. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 was utilized to assess anxiety symptoms, while the food frequency questionnaire was employed to gather data on eating behaviors. The association between fast food intake, RESE, and anxiety symptoms was analyzed using generalized linear models. The moderating effect of RESE on the association between fast food intake and anxiety symptoms was examined using structural equation models.

The positive rate of anxiety symptoms in middle school students was 48.5 % (4120/8500). The positive rate of depressive symptoms in females (53.3 %, 2301/4316) was higher than that in males (43.5 %, 1819/4184). Chinese fast food intake (males vs females: β = 0.26, 95%CI:0.14-0.39; β = 0.16, 95%CI:0.02-0.29), expressing positive affect (β = -0.04, 95%CI:-0.07-0.01; β = -0.06, 95%CI:-0.10-0.03) and managing anger/irritation affect (β = -0.11, 95%CI:-0.14-0.08; β = -0.16, 95%CI:-0.19-0.12) was associated with anxiety symptoms in males and females (all P < 0.05). Takeaway fast food intake (β = 0.19, 95%CI:0.02-0.35) and managing despondency/distress affect (β = -0.08, 95%CI:-0.12-0.04, P < 0.001) was associated with anxiety symptoms in females (all P < 0.05). RESE significantly inversely moderated the association between fast food intake and anxiety symptoms (all participants: β = -0.11; males: β = - 0.08; females: β = - 0.14; all P < 0.01).

Association observed in the cross-sectional study is uncertain and need to be confirmed in cohort studies.

Our findings suggest that fast food intake may be associated with an increased risk of anxiety symptoms among Chinese multi-ethnic adolescents, while good RESE can potentially mitigate this risk.

The prevalence of depression has increased globally, and depressive symptoms have been reported to lead to undesirable lifestyle choices, including poor eating behaviors. The aim of this study was to assess the severity of depressive symptoms in young adults and to investigate the differences in eating habits and dietary quality by the degree of these symptoms.

This cross-sectional study included 497 young adults aged 19-39 yrs living in Chungcheong, Korea. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, and eating habits and dietary quality were surveyed using questionnaires and nutrition quotient (NQ) for Korean adults.

The prevalence of depression in the participants was approximately 31.4%, based on a depressive symptom score of 16 on the CES-D scale, and the proportion of women was significantly higher than men. The depressed group considered food combinations and consumed snacks more frequently than the nondepressed group. No statistically significant differences were found in the total NQ score between the depressed and nondepressed groups; however, the moderation score was significantly lower in the depressed group for all participants and female participants.

We found that dietary quality, including snacking and moderation-related eating habits, varied with the degree of depressive symptoms in young adults. Further intervention studies are needed to clarify the association between dietary factors and depressive symptom.

High-sugar intake is a risk factor for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, but less is known about its role in anxiety disorders. This systematic review aimed to systematically synthesise and assess the existing evidence regarding the association between dietary sugars intake and anxiety disorders. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycArticles and APA PsycINFO was conducted up to 19th August 2022. Study quality was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) and the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Eleven studies (10 cross-sectional and 1 randomised controlled trial [RCT]) were included. Seven cross-sectional studies had very good quality or good quality, and the quality of the RCT was at low risk of bias. These studies examined sugar-sweetened beverages (n = 7), sugar-sweetened foods (n = 4) and/or added sugar (n = 5). The findings suggest a possible positive relationship of added sugar consumption with anxiety disorders, with age as a potential moderator in such association. No conclusions can be drawn on the associations between sugar-sweetened beverages, sugar-sweetened foods consumption and anxiety disorders. Due to the included studies being mostly cross-sectional, the conclusions drawn from the existing evidence should be interpreted with caution. The longitudinal design is warranted to investigate any causal relationship and the potential mechanisms underlying these heterogeneous results. The potential difference in effect at different ages observed in this review should be further examined.

This study explored the link between diet and major depressive disorder (MDD) to provide fresh insights for MDD prevention. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with common foods, such as meat, bread, cheese, fruits, cereals, vegetables, and four alcohol intake categories, were leveraged as instrumental variables. Accordingly, this study employed the inverse variance weighting (IVW) method to evaluate the genetically predicted associations of different food phenotypes with MDD risk. The sensitivity analysis involved MR‒Egger regression and Mendelian random polymorphism residuals, along with outlier tests, to assess instrumental variable pleiotropy. Additional analysis methods, such as MR‒Egger, the weighted median method, and the weighted model, were used to validate the robustness and reliability of the findings. The results of the univariable Mendelian randomization(UVMR) analysis using IVW indicated that genetically predicted consumption of cheese [OR = 0.841, 95% CI: 0.737-0.959, P = 0.0099], dried fruit [OR = 0.7922, 95% CI: 0.644-0.973, P = 0.0264], beer [OR = 1.284, 95% CI: 1.026-1.608, P = 0.0291], and spirits [OR = 3.837, 95% CI: 1.993-7.387, P = 0.0001] were significantly associated with the risk of developing major depressive disorder. Specifically, cheese and dried fruit intake exhibited a inverse correlation with MDD risk, whereas beer and spirits intake showed a positive correlation, with spirits showing a stronger positive correlation. Fourteen other foods, including meat, vegetables, fruits, red wine, and white wine, displayed no significant association with the occurrence of major depression through either type of alcohol intake. In the multivariable Mendelian randomization(MVMR) analysis, considering potential confounding factors such as insomnia, smoking, and the use of contraceptive pills, cheese was identified to have an independent causal relationship with MDD (OR: 0.754, 95% CI: 0.591-0.962, p = 0.0229). No independent causal relationships were identified between dried fruit, beer, or spirits and MDD. The reverse Mendelian randomization (rMR) analysis indicated that MDD did not have a significant effect on the intake of cheese, dried fruit, beer, or spirits, supporting the presence of a unidirectional causal relationship. Finally, the study examined the relationships between dietary characteristics, per capita alcohol intake, and depression incidence among residents of Shanghai, Peking, and Guangdong Provinces of Asian ethnicity in China. These findings align with the conclusions drawn from Mendelian randomization analysis, suggesting that maintaining a diverse diet, sensibly consuming cheese and dried fruit, and reducing beer and spirit intake may prevent MDD.

Sugar consumption has increased dramatically around the world, and at the same time, the prevalence of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety continues to increase. While previous research has explored the impact of various dietary factors on mental health, the specific impact of dietary sugar consumption on the risk of depression and anxiety disorders remains elusive. This study aimed to comprehensively assess this relationship through a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Network (CNKI), and WangFang were systematically searched for studies of the association between total dietary sugar intake and risk of depression and/or anxiety. The articles that meet the criteria are screened and included in the systematic review, and the data are extracted after assessing their quality. Stata 18.0 software was used for the meta-analysis.

Forty studies with 1,212,107 participants were included in the analysis. Results showed that sugar intake increased the risk of depression by 21% (OR = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.27), while the overall association between sugar intake and anxiety risk was not statistically significant (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.93, 1.28). Despite high heterogeneity (I 2 = 99.7%), the results were statistically significant (p < 0.000). Subgroup analyses showed that the association between sugar consumption and depression risk remains consistent across different study designs (cross-sectional, cohort, and case-control studies) and different sample sizes (<5,000, 5,000-10,000, >10,000). Women have a higher risk of depression than men (OR = 1.19, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.35). Among the different exposure measures, the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) showed the most significant effect (OR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.67, I 2 = 99.7%, p < 0.000). The measuring tool of subgroup analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between sugar intake and risk of depression, PHQ-9 (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.17, 1.42, I2 = 86.5%, p < 0.000), and CES-D (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.44, I 2 = 71.3%, p < 0.000). High-quality cross-sectional and cohort studies showed a significant association between sugar intake and depression risk, with most results being robust. While the overall analysis of sugar intake and anxiety risk was not significant, some subgroups approached significance, particularly in studies with a sample size of <5,000 (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 0.89, 1.46) and studies using the FFQ questionnaire (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.89).

Total dietary sugar consumption was significantly associated with increased risk of depression in the general population, whereas the association with risk of anxiety was not significant. Further high-quality studies are needed to verify these associations and ensure their reliability. This study highlights the impact of dietary sugar intake on mental health, identifies potentially high-risk groups through subgroup analysis, and provides new insights into the prevention of depression and anxiety.

CRD42024540548.

With rising demand for soft drinks (SDs) in low-income countries, studies examining mental disorders in relation to SDs are rather scarce. Therefore, we aimed to explore this association in a sample of Iranian adults.

This cross-sectional study was carried out within the framework of the multi-centric LIPOKAP project, with 1970 Iranian healthy adults. Dietary intake and symptoms of depression and anxiety were collected using validated, Persian versions of a food frequency questionnaire and a Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), respectively. Artificial juices were considered fruit-flavored carbonated sugar beverages, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) included fruit-flavored carbonated sugar beverages and carbonated colas, and soft drinks included SSB and drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners.

The mean age of the participants was 39.8 ± 13.9 years. Compared to lower intake, higher intake of SDs (OR = 1.30, 95 % CI: 1.01, 1.69; P = 0.041), SSBs (OR = 1.30, 95 % CI: 1.00, 1.67; P = 0.045) and artificial juice (OR = 1.63, 95 % CI: 1.24, 2.13; P < 0.001) was associated with higher risk of depression in adjusted model. These associations were sex-specific and more evident in males. No significant association was found between any of the drinks and anxiety risk except for artificial juice in men which was directly associated with anxiety risk (OR = 1.66, 95 % CI: 1.06, 2.61; P = 0.028).

This study found a positive association between SDs, SSBs and artificial juice and depression, but not anxiety. These associations varied between men and women. Prospective cohort studies are warranted to confirm our results and reveal the causal relationship.

Anxiety and depression can seriously undermine mental health and quality of life globally. The consumption of junk foods, including ultra-processed foods, fast foods, unhealthy snacks, and sugar-sweetened beverages, has been linked to mental health. The aim of this study is to use the published literature to evaluate how junk food consumption may be associated with mental health disorders in adults.

A systematic search was conducted up to July 2023 across international databases including PubMed/Medline, ISI Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and EMBASE. Data extraction and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Heterogeneity across studies was assessed using the I2 statistic and chi-square-based Q-test. A random/fixed effect meta-analysis was conducted to pool odds ratios (ORs) and hazard ratios (HRs).

Of the 1745 retrieved articles, 17 studies with 159,885 participants were suitable for inclusion in the systematic review and meta-analysis (seven longitudinal, nine cross-sectional and one case-control studies). Quantitative synthesis based on cross-sectional studies showed that junk food consumption increases the odds of having stress and depression (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.06 to 1.23). Moreover, pooling results of cohort studies showed that junk food consumption is associated with a 16% increment in the odds of developing mental health problems (OR = 1.16, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.24).

Meta-analysis revealed that consumption of junk foods was associated with an increased hazard of developing depression. Increased consumption of junk food has heightened the odds of depression and psychological stress being experienced in adult populations.

The long-term consumption of junk food products can lead to nutritional and metabolic imbalances, especially when it is associated with a lack of physical activity and the consumption of alcohol or other high-calorie products.

The evaluation of junk food consumption among teenagers and young people in Romania was carried out with the help of a cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire.

A total number of 1017 respondents participated in this study, comprising 470 males and 547 females aged between 16 and 25 years. Although the majority of young people fell into the normal-weight category (607 of them, p < 0.0001), some aspects can be noted that in the long term can produce a series of nutritional imbalances: an increased tendency toward sedentarism, with 553 (p = 0.613) of the respondents declaring that they performed sports rarely or not at all, and a tendency toward relatively high consumption of foods high in calories (fast food products and especially fried potatoes, hamburgers, shawarma, pastries, and snacks, along with sweetened drinks and even alcoholic beverages). The respondents participating in this study even indicated a perceived addiction to the consumption of certain products: coffee (50.48%), fried potatoes (38.9%), hamburgers (37.05%), shawarma (31.65%), and snacks (30.08%). Many of these products are rich in calories, saturated fat, and even trans fat.

This study highlights a series of aspects that can have long-term negative effects related to the excess weight associated with other imbalances: consumption preferences among young people for hypercaloric fast food products, sweetened drinks associated with reduced physical activity, and even the development of some forms of food addictions for a series of hypercaloric foods.

There are well-established literatures documenting the associations between mental disorders and unhealthy behaviors such as poor diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use. Few studies have attempted to understand the respective findings in light of each other, however.

The purpose of this review was to assemble comparable data for each behavior-disorder association and assess the associations in terms of their overall strength. The review aimed to include a representative, but not exhaustive, range of studies that would allow for explorative comparisons.

Eligible studies were identified via Pubmed searches and citation searching, restricted to publications no older than 2015 written in English. To obtain comparable data, only studies that reported findings as odds ratios were included, and risk of bias related to study samples, behavioral measurement disparities, and control variables was assessed via sensitivity analyses. Findings for each disorder were compared on the basis of different measures of central tendency.

From 3,682 records, 294 studies were included. The review found evidence of associations between each of the four unhealthy behaviors and psychosis, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while personality disorder was only investigated in relation to cannabis and tobacco use. In overall comparison, the associations were generally of similar strength, and only the association between cannabis use and personality disorder was exceptional in terms of being significantly stronger than its counterparts across disorders and across behaviors. Analyses of bias risk identified some influence from behavioral measurement disparities and lack of adequate statistical control, but findings were generally robust across a range of sensitivity analyses.

This explorative and comparative review found that poor diet quality, sedentary behavior, and cannabis and tobacco use are about equally strongly associated with a range of different mental disorders. Given the general nature of these associations, we should probably understand them to reflect a general and shared etiology. However, the findings in this review should be regarded as tentative until confirmed by more comprehensive investigations.

Evidence linking relation between dietary antioxidant quality score (DAQS) and psychological disorders is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to assess relationship between DAQSs and psychological disorders including depression, anxiety and stress among Iranian adults.

This cross-sectional study used data on 7165 participants of the recruitment phase of Yazd Health Study (YaHS) and Taghzieh Mardom-e-Yazd Study (TAMYZ). Dietary intakes and psychological problems were evaluated using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and the validated Iranian version of depression, anxiety and stress scale questionnaire. DAQS was calculated for each person by summing up the assigned scores to a ratio between daily consuming each of the nutrients including vitamin A, C, E, selenium, manganese, zinc and their daily recommended intake (Score of 0 for a ratio of <2/3 and 1 for a ratio of >2/3). Eventually, association between DAQS and psychological disorders was assessed via logistic regression analysis.

Although no significant relationship was observed between DAQS and psychological disorders in general population, a protective role was found for DAQS against anxiety only in women after adjusting history of chronic disease; age; marital status; education level; smoking status; total energy intake and physical activity level (second tertile versus first tertile: OR: 0.63, 95% CI: 0.40-0.99). However, this finding was nonsignificant after further adjustment for body mass index.

Average levels of DAQS might be related to psychological distress especially among women. However, more studies are recommended to valid the findings.

Evidence suggests that adopting a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean Diet (MD), can positively affect mental health. To further explore this, a study was conducted to determine the impact of MD instruction over 12 weeks on depression, anxiety, stress, and anthropometric indices. The study is a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial with sixty participants who reported stress, anxiety, and depression conducted in Tabriz, Iran (2022-2023). They were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 30), which received MD instruction, or the control group (n = 30), which received standard healthy nutrition education. Both groups were asked to follow their respective nutrition education plans for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, depression, anxiety, and stress levels were measured using the DASS-21 questionnaire, and anthropometric indices were assessed. Initially, the unadjusted DASS-21 scores for depression, anxiety, and stress did not show significant differences between the two groups. However, after adjusting for baseline variables (model 2), all scores decreased significantly (the P-value for all scores was < 0.001). There was no significant difference in weight and BMI between the intervention and control groups. However, after adjusting the results based on baseline values (Model 2) and adherence to the program (Model 3), weight and BMI were significantly reduced in the MD group (P-values for both cases and both models were < 0.001). Overall, despite some significant findings, the results were not noticeable from a clinical perspective. The study provides some indications that following the Mediterranean diet may lead to improvements in weight and mental well-being.

Anthocyanidins encompass a diverse array of compounds that possess notable anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties with pharmacological activity. However, the correlation between the consumption of anthocyanidins through diet and its impact on depression has yet to be investigated.

This study utilized the Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies (FNDDS) expanded flavonoid intake database, as well as data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from the years 2007 to 2010 and 2017 to 2018. The analysis of the collected data was conducted in R, following the guidelines outlined in the official NHANES user guide "Stratified Multi-stage Probability Sampling". Three different models were developed using logistic regression to assess the protective effects of T3 (representing the highest intake of anthocyanidins) against depression. Additionally, the study aimed to investigate whether there existed a non-linear relationship between the dietary intake of anthocyanidins and the prevalence of depression by employing restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis.

A total of 6,845 eligible participants were included in this cross-sectional study, with their data appropriately weighted to represent a population of 89.8 million people in the United States of America. The results demonstrated that individuals diagnosed with depression had a significantly lower dietary intake of anthocyanidins compared to those without depression (P < 0.0001). Moreover, significant differences were observed among different participant groups regarding socioeconomic status and the presence of chronic physical illnesses (such as hypertension, glucose status, and chronic kidney disease risk, etc.) (P < 0.05). After adjustment for covariates, participants with the highest intake of anthocyanins (T3) demonstrated a significantly reduced risk of depression [OR_T3 = 0.67, 95%CI: (0.48-0.95), (P_trend= 0.02]. Furthermore, the RCS analysis revealed a significant linear relationship between dietary anthocyanidin intake and depression (P for non-linear = 0.5876).

Our findings reveal a negative association between dietary anthocyanidin intake and depression.

Mental health conditions are a significant contributor to the global burden of disease. The aim of this study was to explore the association between psychological disorders, Mediterranean diet (MD), and chronotype. A total of 344 participants (74% women) with a mean age of 33.5 ± 13 years were recruited. According to the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) score, 22% of participants had symptoms of depression, 23% anxiety, and 10% stress. The assessment of MD adherence through the Medi-Lite score revealed that participants with psychological disorders had significantly (p < 0.05) lower MD adherence than those without these conditions. Furthermore, less than 10% of the subjects with at least one symptom reported consuming the optimal amount of fruit and vegetables, while 72% showed excessive consumption of meat and meat products. Regarding chronotype, evening subjects reported the lowest MD adherence and the highest prevalence of all three psychological disorders analyzed. A multivariate analysis showed that female gender, age, being unmarried/single, sedentary lifestyle, and low MD adherence were associated with a significantly higher risk of depression, anxiety, and stress. Future studies are needed to explore the relationship between mental health and risk factors to improve personal and global population health.

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental illnesses in the world. Its associated factors have been scarcely studied in the Latin American population. Our aim was to determine the contextual and individual factors associated with depressive symptoms (DS) in residents of 11 Latin American cities according to the 2019 CAF Survey (ECAF, acronym in Spanish). A multilevel analysis was performed to identify individual and contextual factors associated with DS. DS were measured by the short version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). Of the 10,206 participants, 42.0% had DS in the week prior to the survey. Regarding the individual factors studied, women (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.65-1.99), smokers (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.16-1.45), obese, junk food eaters more than twice a week, single people, and a greater number of people in the household were associated with greater probabilities of having DS. On the other hand, a secondary (OR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.67-0.88) or superior educational level (OR = 0.58; 95% CI: 0.50-0.68) were associated as protective factors. Regarding contextual factors, higher contamination levels (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.13) were associated with DS. Our study reports associations between individual and environmental factors and DS in residents of Latin America. These findings will allow the adoption of the necessary measures for decision-making and research to face this growing problem in developing countries.

While there is growing interest in the link between diet and psychological health, there is a surprising lack of studies investigating the precise associations between nutrient-rich foods (such as fruit and vegetables) versus nutrient-poor foods (such as energy-dense savoury and sweet snacks), and psychological health. Similarly, the psychological processes underpinning the relationship between dietary intake and psychological health remain unclear. Hence, the present study aimed to explore the relationship between dietary consumption and psychological health, with cognitive processes as a theoretical mediator. This cross-sectional online study included 428 healthy adults (53% female; mean age= 39.7, SD= 13.0), with participants completing a range of validated questionnaires measuring dietary habits and psychological health. Stepwise multiple regression revealed that more frequent consumption of fruit was associated with reduced symptoms of depression (β = -.109, p = 0.025) and greater positive psychological wellbeing (β = .187, p < 0.001). Conversely, more frequent savoury snacking was associated with increased anxiety (β = .127, p = 0.005). Further, mediation analyses revealed that more frequent consumption of savoury snacks was associated with increased symptoms of depression, stress, anxiety, and reduced psychological wellbeing, via an increase in cognitive failures (ps < 0.001). These results provide new insights on the independent associations between certain types of food and psychological health, and the psychological mechanisms that may mediate these. Further work is now required to establish causality and determine whether these may represent modifiable dietary targets that can directly (and indirectly) influence our psychological health.

Since evidence regarding to low carbohydrate diet (LCD) and psychiatric disorders is little and controversial, this study aimed to assess relation between LCD score and psychological disorders including depression, anxiety, and stress among a large representative sample of Iranian adult population in Yazd city, Iran.

This cross-sectional analysis was conducted on data of 7165 persons who participated in the recruitment phase of Yazd Health Study (YaHS) and Taghzieh Mardom-e-Yazd (TAMIZ) study. Dietary intakes were evaluated by a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. LCD score was calculated for each person according to summing up assigned scores to deciles of percentages of energy from macronutrients. Assessment of psychological disorders was also conducted by the validated Iranian version of depression, anxiety and stress scale questionnaire (DASS 21). Eventually, association between adherence to LCD and psychological disorders was evaluated via logistic regression.

After adjusting the confounders, women in the third quartile of LCD score might had 38% lower chance of depression versus those in the first quartile (odds ratio (OR) = 0.62, confidence interval (CI) = 0.42-0.93). However, no significant relationship was observed for other psychological disorders.

More adherences to LCD might be associated with lower chance of depression only among women. Further studies special prospective studies are required to validate these results.