Diets high in chocolate, butter increase risk for depression, anxiety symptoms
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Key takeaways:
- Free sugars and saturated fatty acids were linked to a higher risk for symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Consuming certain foods and beverages in moderation may lessen the burden of mental health conditions.
A dietary pattern with high intakes of chocolate, butter, added sugars, high-fat cheese and milk-based desserts along with low intakes of fruit and vegetables was linked to a greater risk for depression and anxiety symptoms, data show.
Dietary habits have been increasingly looked at as modifiable risk factors in mental health conditions, with previous research demonstrating associations between single nutrients such as saturated fat and low fiber and an increase in anxiety and depression symptoms, according to Han Chen, from Hangzhou Normal University School of Public Health in China, and colleagues.
Still, “the effect of individual nutrient or food may not be sufficient to reflect the health effects of a whole diet pattern, since foods are always consumed in combination,” they wrote in BMC Medicine. “So far, the synergistic effects of various food groups or nutrients on depressive and anxiety symptoms are largely unknown.”
So, the researchers aimed to expand research in this area by conducting a prospective cohort study to analyze dietary patterns (DPs) among 126,819 participants (55.9% women; mean age, 55 years) enrolled in the 2006 to 2010 U.K. Biobank.
During a mean follow-up of 7.5 years, the researchers identified 2,746 and 2,202 cases of depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively.
There were three DPs that accounted for 74% of variation in nutrients possibly linked to depression and anxiety symptoms, according to the researchers. These included:
- DP1, which was characterized as a “high-caloric diet” with high intakes of chocolate, confectionery, butter, as well as other animal fat spreads and low intakes of fresh fruit and vegetables;
- DP2, characterized as a “high-sugar, low-fat diet” with high intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, other sugary drinks, table sugars and preserves and low intakes of butter and animal fat spreads, as well as high-fat cheese; and
- DP3, characterized as a “high-sugar, high-fat, high-fiber diet” with high intakes of butter and other animal-fat spreads and milk-based desserts and low intakes of alcohol and low-fiber bread.
Chen and colleagues found that compared with the lowest quintile of DP1, the OR of depression symptoms was:
- 0.82 (95% CI, 0.72-0.93) for the second quintile;
- 0.86 (95% CI, 0.76-0.98) for the third quintile;
- 1.02 (95% CI, 0.9-1.15) for the fourth quintile; and
- 1.17 (95% CI, 1.03-1.32) for the fifth quintile.
Compared with the lowest quintile of DP1, the OR of anxiety symptoms was:
- 0.84 (95% CI, 0.73-0.97) for the second quintile;
- 0.91 (95% CI, 0.79-1.05) for the third quintile;
- 1.01 (95% CI, 0.88-1.15) for the fourth quintile; and
- 1.18 (95% CI, 1.03-1.35) for the firth quintile.
Meanwhile, compared with the lowest quintile of DP3, the OR of anxiety symptoms was:
- 0.9 (95% CI, 0.79-1.01) for the second quintile;
- 1 (95% CI, 0.88-1.13) for the third quintile;
- 1.06 (95% CI, 0.94-1.2) for the fourth quintile;
- 1.17 (95% CI, 1.03-1.32) for the fifth quintile.
Compared with the lowest quintile of DP3, the OR of depression symptoms was:
- 0.9 (95% CI, 0.78-1.04) for the second quintile;
- 1.05 (95% CI, 0.91–1.2) for the third quintile;
- 1.02 (95% CI, 0.89-1.17) for the fourth quintile; and
- 1.21 (95% CI, 1.05-1.38) for the fifth quintile.
DP3 showed stronger associations for anxiety symptoms in participants aged 60 years and older, whereas DP1 accounted for most of the variation in nutrients (44%).
There was no significant association between DP2 and depression or anxiety symptoms, according to the researchers.
“Our findings highlight the intricate relationships between overall diet pattern and symptoms of depression and anxiety,” Chen and colleagues wrote. “The current analysis has yielded robust findings that increased consumption of free sugars and saturated fatty acids [were] associated with a heightened risk of symptoms related to depression and anxiety.”
They suggested that consumption of foods like chocolate, butter, sugar-sweetened beverages and high-fat cheese “may trigger systemic inflammation, increase oxidative stress, and cause alterations in gut microbiota, thereby contributing to the risk of developing symptoms of depression and anxiety.”
“Our findings highlight that moderate consumption of foods and beverages may contribute to reducing the current burden of mental disorders at the population level,” the researchers concluded.
Perspective
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This article is a great step forward in understanding two very important health concerns. First, it highlights the effect of poor nutrition on health, including diabetes and heart disease. Secondly, it addresses mental health concerns of depression and anxiety. This article touches the surface of the issue by showing a correlation between what we eat and how we feel. It is a stepping stone for more research that is needed to discover whether the issue remains that do you simply eat a worse diet when you are depressed or is it because you eat those foods, then there is a chemical change that leads to depression and anxiety. As an osteopathic physician, this study reinforces our philosophy that talks about the connection between mind, body and spirit and the whole of an individual. We are determined to meet these needs.
As a pediatrician, I would love for this study to be done on pediatric patients to see if these same correlations are drawn. I am excited as a pediatrician to use this study to encourage my patients to naturally take care of depression and anxiety by avoiding greasy, saturated fat and high sugar diets, along with the importance of fruits and vegetables to help their mental health as well as their physical bodies.
Perspective
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This article adds to a multitude of observational studies drawing associations between dietary patterns and various illnesses. The sample size is large and used a dietary survey completed as part of a large cohort study in the U.K. The authors’ report that they found an association between diets high in chocolate, sweets, and butter and low in fruits/vegetables with higher risks of depression and anxiety. The study suffers from the same problems that plague most observational studies, such as unaddressed confounders and inability to draw causative conclusions. A major clue to this lies in Table 1, where the differences in nutrient intake are almost identical between those who develop depression/anxiety and those who don’t (except for intake of sugar-sweetened beverages). It is very unlikely that such minute differences in intake would generate an OR of up to 1.2. The major takeaway of this article is to highlight the limitations of observational studies in establishing causal relationships.
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