Fruit and vegetable consumption and psychological distress in Australian pregnant and breastfeeding women.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Mental health disorders amongst pregnant and postpartum women are an increasing public health concern. Our aim was to determine the association between fruit and vegetable intake and psychological distress in a nationally representative sample of Australian pregnant and breastfeeding women.

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN

This study used cross-sectional data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the 2014 to 2015 Australian National Health Survey. Participants included 166 pregnant and 207 breastfeeding women >18 years old. Number of serves of fruit and vegetables usually consumed each day was reported. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) measured levels of global non-specific psychological distress. The association between fruit and vegetable intake and psychological distress was investigated using linear regression adjusted for available known covariates (age, education, physical activity).

RESULTS

Mean±SD fruit intake was greater in pregnant compared to breastfeeding women (2.0±1.0 versus 1.7±1.0, p<0.05). The mean K10 score for both the pregnant and breastfeeding women was in the 10-15 'little or no psychological distress" range. In pregnant women, combined fruit and vegetable intake was inversely associated with psychological distress in the fully adjusted model (β=-0.37, 95% CI -0.72, -0.02). There was no association between fruit and vegetable intake and psychological distress in breastfeeding women.

CONCLUSIONS

A higher intake of combined fruit and vegetables was found to be associated with less psychological distress in pregnant women. Further research, including longitudinal and intervention studies, are required to determine causality between fruit and vegetable intake and psychological distress in this population group.