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Association between eating balanced meals and depressive symptoms in Japanese hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic
Despite a growing body of research outlining how a healthy diet can protect from depression, the number of studies investigating these protective effects in healthcare workers combating the COVID-19 pandemic is insufficient. This spurred Miki et al. (2022) to determine the cross-sectional relationship linking the frequency of balanced meal consumption— where a balanced meal contains a staple food (e.g., rice, bread, and noodles), a main dish (e.g., fish, meat, eggs, and soy products), and a side dish (e.g., vegetables, mushrooms, potatoes, and algae)—and depressive symptoms among 2,457 hospital workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants documented their depressive symptoms through the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the number of days they ate two or more balanced meals every week. The participants were ubsequently divided into four categories as follows: ≤1 day/week, 2-3 days/week, 4-5 days/week and daily. The authors observed a prevalence of depressive symptoms amongst healthcare workers of 14.8%, with more chance of suffering from depressive symptoms in relation to less balanced meals consumed per week. The odds of suffering from depressive symptoms were found to be lowest in those who ate balanced meals daily, and highest in those who ate balanced meals ≤1 day/week. Thus, the authors conclude that hospital workers eating less well-balanced meals are more likely to experience depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. [NPID: COVID-19, balanced meals, depressive symptoms, depression, epidemiology]
Year: 2022
