Associations between dietary carotenoid intakes and the risk of depressive symptoms

The diets we consume play a critical part in the onset and course of depression. Carotenoids have substantial antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, however, the literature exploring the potential links between carotenoid consumption and symptoms of depression remains insufficient. Thus, Ge at al. (2020) conducted this cross-sectional study to investigate the relationship between carotenoids in diet and the odds of experiencing symptoms of depression in a population of adults (17,401 participants, 18-80 years) selected from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2009 and 2016. The participants recorded their diets through two 24-h dietary recall interviews, and had their depressive symptoms evaluated via the Patients’ Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). The results demonstrated that consumption of carotenoids in diet, especially alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein/zeaxanthin, are related to a substantial decrease in the risk of experiencing symptoms of depression, inferring that carotenoid consumption protects against depression. [NPID: NHANES, depressive symptoms, dietary carotenoid intakes, dose–response relationship, restricted cubic spline models, PHQ-9]

Year: 2020

Reference: Ge, H., Yang, T., Sun, J., & Zhang, D. (2020). Associations between dietary carotenoid intakes and the risk of depressive symptoms. Food & nutrition research, 64, 10.29219/fnr.v64.3920. https://doi.org/10.29219/fnr.v64.3920