Mixed
Adherence to a 'Western' dietary pattern (high in processed meats, fried foods, and refined carbohydrates) is associated with a significantly higher likelihood of depressive symptoms over a 10-year period compared to lower adherence.
If you frequently consume processed foods, fried items, and refined carbs, you may be increasing your long-term risk for depressive symptoms. While this doesn't mean you will definitely become depressed, shifting away from these 'Western' patterns toward whole foods may support better mental health over time.
The highest quartile of low-fat, western, high snack and high fat-sweet diets in men and low-fat and high snack diets in women were associated with higher likelihood of depressive symptoms at the start of the follow-up compared to the lowest quartile (OR between 1.16 and 1.50).
Why this rating
Large sample size (n=12,404), longitudinal design (10 years), and repeated measures of depression, though observational nature limits causal inference.
Source
Association between Dietary Patterns and Depressive Symptoms Over Time: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study of the GAZEL Cohort
Agnès Le Port et al. · PLoS ONE · 2012
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0051593
More from this paper
- Adherence to a 'Traditional' dietary pattern (characterized by high consumption of fish and fruit) is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of depressive symptoms in women.Good
- A 'Healthy' dietary pattern (characterized by high vegetable consumption) is associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms, but this association may be driven by reverse causality (i.e., depressed individuals are less likely to eat healthy).Moderate
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