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Adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet and incident depression and anxiety
An effective approach to tackling the increased prevalence of mental health illnesses is increasingly understood to be high-quality meals. This study by Xujia Lu et al. (2024) explores the potential links between following the EAT-Lancet reference diet (which restricts the intake of processed food and animal sources) and the incidence of depression, anxiety, and their combined occurrence among 180,446 participants from the UK Biobank. Adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet was assessed using three different diet scores: the Knuppel EAT-Lancet index (which scores participants on how well they adhere to the EAT-Lancet recommendations in points ranging from 0-14), the Kesse-Guyot EAT-Lancet index (continuous scoring that accounts for deviations from cut-off values based on the Knuppel index), and the Stubbendorff EAT-Lancet index (which evaluates different levels of fidelity to the EAT-Lancet diet). Analysis of the results showed that, over an 11.62-year follow-up period, individuals in the highest adherence group for the Knuppel EAT-Lancet index had reduced risks of depression, anxiety, and their combined occurrence compared to those with the lowest adherence. The authors noted that the above findings were similarly reflected in the Kesse-Guyot and Stubbendorff EAT-Lancet indices scores. These findings imply that a lower risk of acquiring depression, anxiety, and their co-occurrence is associated with increased adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet. [NPID: Mental health, high-quality meals, EAT-Lancet diet, depression, anxiety, UK biobank, diet index]
Year: 2024
