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Vegetarian diet and the risk of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
Previous studies have reported conflicting results that intake of a vegetarian diet is associated with mental health effects, particularly anxiety, depression, and stress. Askari et al. (2022) conducted their systematic review to summarize the current state of the literature on this relationship. A literature search was performed to identify relevant articles, yielding prospective cohort and cross-sectional studies, conducted on adults for risk estimation of vegetarian diet, depression, anxiety, and stress using Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science for relevant articles published before July 2020. A total of 13 publications (4 cohort studies and 9 cross-sectional studies) examining the association between a vegetarian diet and depression, anxiety, and stress were included. Analysis of the included studies revealed no association between a vegetarian diet and depression. Furthermore, the pooled effect size from the four studies suggests that the vegetarian diet is not associated with anxiety. Results could not be summarized due to insufficient data on stress. Overall, the authors discovered no significant association was observed between a vegetarian diet and depression or anxiety. Future cohort studies are needed to further explore the impact of vegetarian diets on these mental health effects. [NPID: Fear, depression, stress, vegetarianism]
Year: 2020
