15th Sep 2014
Clare Pain all articles by this author
The Deakin University review found four out of five studies showed a significant relationship between an unhealthy eating pattern (such as a Western diet, or a snack-dominated diet) and worse scores on questionnaires examining depression and anxiety. CHILDREN and adolescents with unhealthy eating patterns are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, a systematic review of 12 epidemiological studies has found.
However, it was less clear that healthy food patterns were linked with better mental health, the authors said.
For those studies that calculated a dietary quality score, rather than looking at a dietary pattern, a “consistent trend” was found, with children eating nutrient-rich “high quality” diets exhibiting less anxiety and depressive illness.
For those studies that calculated a dietary quality score, rather than looking at a dietary pattern, a “consistent trend” was found, with children eating nutrient-rich “high quality” diets exhibiting less anxiety and depressive illness.
The review included results from nearly 83,000 children and adolescents, with studies from seven countries, including Australia, China and the US.
This is the first such review in children and adolescents, said the authors. Studies on adults had indicated that better-quality diet was associated with better health outcomes, they noted.
However, the review in children and adolescents had revealed the paucity of data available, they remarked. Because of this, the evidence for the associations was limited, and more research using longitudinal designs was needed.
The majority of the studies were cross-sectional, with only three prospective studies included, the authors said. The findings of the prospective studies were conflicting, they added.
It was not possible to rule out reverse causation, with depressed and anxious children possibly adopting unhealthy diets as “a form of self-medication”, they said.
On the other hand, there was biological plausibility in diets deficient in nutrients being linked to poor mental health.
Other research had shown dietary intake of folate, zinc and magnesium to be inversely associated with depressive disorders, they said, while dietary long-chain omega-3 fatty acids were linked with a reduction in anxiety disorders.
Am J Pub Health 2014; in press
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