BMC Medicine — Adjibade M, et al. | April 16, 2019
Researchers, for the first time, examined the link between the proportion of ultra-processed food (%UPF) in the diet and incident depressive symptoms in the NutriNet-Santé cohort using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Participants were aged 18-86 years (women, n=20,380; men, n=6,350) and did not have depressive symptoms at the first Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale measurement, using validated cut-offs (score of ≥ 17 for men and ≥ 23 for women). A total of 2,221 incident cases of depressive symptoms were identified over a mean follow-up period of 5.4 years. Investigators observed an increased risk of depressive symptoms with an increased %UPF in the diet after accounting for a wide range of potential confounders. For high %UPF in beverages and sauces or added fats, a significantly increased risk was noted. Overall, UPF consumption was positively related to the risk of incident depressive symptoms. The investigators suggested that accounting for this non-nutritional aspect of the diet may have clinical importance in mental health promotion.
Story Source – site may require registration