Empirically derived dietary patterns and their association with mental health: A cross-sectional sample of Iranian migraine patients (2019–2020)

Upon identifying a lack of literature investigating the association between major dietary patterns and mental health in migraine patients, Arab, Rafie and Hadi et al. (2022) conducted their study to explore the relationship between empirically-derived dietary patterns and mental health disorders, namely depression, anxiety and stress, in a sample of Iranian migraine patients. Selecting a total of 262 migraine patients between the ages of 20-50 years through simple random sampling and determining dietary intake during the previous year using a validated 168-item, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), three major dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis (PCA). These patterns included a “traditional” diet (composed of solid oils, sweets, caffeine, legumes, and refined grains), a “western” diet (rich in fast foods and snacks, processed meat, fish, cola drink, condiments, dairy, and vegetable pickles), and a “healthy” dietary pattern (characterized by high intake of fruits, vegetables, egg, whole grains, nuts and seeds, meat, and poultry). Participants’ mental health was evaluated using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) questionnaire.
The authors found that participants in the highest tertile of the healthy and Empirically derived dietary patterns had lower odds for depression and stress. However, no significant association was observed between the western and the traditional dietary patterns and mental disorders. Current findings urge migraine patients to increase their intake of fruits, vegetables, eggs, whole grains, nuts and seeds, meat, and poultry and reduce the intake of fast foods and snacks, processed meat, fish, cola drink, condiments, dairy, and vegetable pickles to diminish the chance of depression and stress. [NPID: Dietary pattern, factor analysis, migraine, depression, anxiety, stress]

Year: 2022

Reference: Arab, A., Rafie, N., Hadi, A., Khorvash, F., Heidari, Z., Askari, G.(2022). Empirically derived dietary patterns and their association with mental health: a cross-sectional sample of Iranian migraine patients (2019–2020). BMC Nutr 8, 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-022-00522-x