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Food-based diet quality score in relation to depressive symptoms in young and middle-aged Japanese women
This 2017 cross-sectional study assessed the relationship between diet quality and depressive symptoms in young (aged 18) and middle-aged (mean age 47·9) Japanese women. Sakai et al. (2017) employed diet history questionnaires and a food-based diet quality score mainly based on the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top. Of the 3,963 young and 3,833 middle-aged participants, 22% and 16.8%, respectively, presented with depressive symptoms [determined as a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) score ≥23 and ≥19, respectively]. The female participants’ diet quality was positively associated with consumption of ‘grain dishes’, ‘vegetable dishes’, ‘fish and meat dishes’, ‘milk’ and ‘fruits’, and inversely related with energy intake from ‘snacks, confection, and beverages,’ and no association with seasonings. After making adjustments for potential confounders, the highest quintile for diet quality score had a 35% lower risk of developing depressive symptoms than the lowest quintile (OR=0.65), in the young female population (P=0.0005), while the variation between the highest and lowest quintiles in the middle-aged women was larger (OR=0.59). Other analyses applying diet quality and CES-D scores as continuous variables also showed inverse associations. These results demonstrate the relevance of higher food-based diet quality scores with lower incidences of depressive symptoms among young and middle-aged women in Japan, although additional studies are warranted. [NPID: diet quality, depression, Japan]
Year: 2017
