Could a Mediterranean Diet Decrease the Risk of Depression?

Adherence to a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts was associated with a decreased risk of depression, according to a recent study.

In previous studies, researchers have found links between decreased risk of depression and dietary patterns. To further examine this association, researchers compared the relationships between 3 diet quality scores and the risk of depression in a dynamic cohort study.
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Researchers assessed dietary intake in 15,093 Spanish university graduates (free of depression at baseline) over 10 years of follow-up using 3 diet quality scores: the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), Pro-vegetarian Dietary Pattern (PDP) and Alternative Healthy Eating Intex-2010 (AHEI-2010).

Among the participants, researchers found 1051 cases of depression over the course of the study.

Overall, researchers noted that adherence to all 3 diets was associated with reduced risk of depression, with adherence to the AHEI-2010 associated with the greatest reductions.

“Better adherence to the MDS, PDP and AHEI-2010 was associated with a reduced risk of depression among Spanish adults. However, our data suggested a threshold effect so that although the risk of depression was reduced when comparing moderate versus lower adherence, there was not much extra benefit for the comparison between moderate and high or very high adherence,” they concluded.

The complete study is published in the September issue of BMC Medicine.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Sanchez-Villegas A, Henriquez-Sanchez P, Ruiz-Canela M, et al. A longitudinal analysis of diet quality scores and the risk of incident depression in the SUN project. BMC Med. 2015 September [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1186/s12916-015-0428-y.