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Exploring the relationship between dietary quality, eating behavior, and mental health among young adults
Nutritional psychiatry research indicates that diets rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins correlate with lower rates of depression and anxiety, whereas high intake of refined sugars and saturated fats is linked to increased psychological distress. This study investigates how cognitive emotion-regulation strategies affect overall diet quality and specific eating behaviors in a sample of 1,027 young adults (mean age 24.6 years) from the Czech Republic. Utilizing validated psychological assessments and dietary quality measures, the study found that higher rumination was positively associated with diet quality (B = 0.34, p < 0.001), while depressive symptoms negatively affected diet quality (B = -0.09, p = 0.001). Additionally, anxiety and catastrophizing were linked to food-approach behaviors, while positive reappraisal and acceptance were associated with reduced dysregulated eating. Although these findings are preliminary and should be viewed as hypothesis-generating, they highlight the complex interplay between cognitive-emotional mechanisms and dietary habits. The study underscores the need for further longitudinal and experimental research to validate these associations and refine nutritional psychiatry interventions. [NPID: Diet-psychological relationship, behavior, depression, anxiety, sugar, vegetables, nutritional psychiatry]
Year: 2025
