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Dietary inflammatory potential in depressive symptoms in older Chinese people in Hong Kong: a cohort study
Understanding the relationship between diet and mental health is crucial, particularly as populations age. Depression, a widespread mental disorder, exhibits increasing severity with age, and recent Western studies suggest that a diet high in inflammatory potential may contribute to depressive symptoms. However, research on this topic within Asian populations remains scarce.
This longitudinal study, part of the Hong Kong Mr and Ms Os project, assessed 3,740 elderly Chinese individuals over a period of seven years. The research utilized the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) to measure changes in depressive symptoms and the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to calculate the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII). To analyze the data accurately, a Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) was applied, and inverse probability weighting was used to mitigate attrition bias.
The findings revealed a significant correlation between dietary inflammatory potential and depressive symptoms, with a unit increase in DII linked to an increase in depressive symptoms (β = 0.228). This trend was consistent across genders, though it was particularly pronounced in females. Furthermore, when tertiles of DII were compared, a similar pattern emerged, indicating that those with higher DII experienced greater depressive symptoms.
In conclusion, this investigation highlights the positive association between dietary inflammatory potential and depressive symptoms in the elderly Chinese population, suggesting a need for further studies to explore gender differences in this context. Limitations included reliance on a single dietary assessment and notable participant attrition. [NPID: Inflammatory, Dietary Inflammatory Index, depression]
Year: 2026
