Australian Research Center in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW.
Nutrition. 2020 Oct;78:110946. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2020.110946. Epub 2020 Jul 18.
Currently 1 million Australians are living with depression each year, with an average of one in eight men experiencing the disorder. Studies have shown that individual nutrients, fruit and vegetable intake, polyphenols, and whole dietary patterns can have a positive effect on depressive symptoms. In particular, the Mediterranean diet has shown promising preliminary findings. The aim of this study was to assess the diet quality and knowledge of young men in relation to depressive symptoms.
This was a cross-sectional online survey. We collected data from 384 young Australian men between 18 and 25 y of age with diagnosed depression. Pearson's χ test was used for ordinal categorical variables.
Dietary intake among this population was poor. Discretionary foods were consumed two to three times per week and included pizza (41%), fried potatoes such as French fries or hash browns (29%), and chocolate (25%). Roughly half of participants (47%) reported never consuming whole grains or legumes and only 9% said they eat vegetables twice or more per day. Healthy eating is perceived as both time consuming (82%) and expensive (70%). One-third (32%) of participants perceived their diet as having a major effect and 29% a slight effect on their mental health, with only 5% reporting that diet has no effect on their mental health. However, the majority of participants (84%) believe it is important or very important to eat an overall healthy diet and 77% reported being willing to change their diet if it would improve their symptoms of depression.
These results highlighted the relatively poor diets of this population. This group of young men would greatly benefit from a quality diet such as the Mediterranean diet. The reported willingness to change their diets is encouraging and supports the viability of dietary intervention trials in this demographic. The dietary data presented in this study can be used to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving the diets of young men with depression.
目前澳大利亚有 100 万人患有抑郁症，平均每 8 名男性中就有 1 人患有这种疾病。研究表明，个体营养素、水果和蔬菜摄入量、多酚和整体饮食模式都对抑郁症状有积极影响。特别是，地中海饮食显示出有希望的初步结果。本研究旨在评估年轻男性的饮食质量和知识与抑郁症状的关系。
这是一项横断面在线调查。我们收集了 384 名年龄在 18 至 25 岁之间、被诊断患有抑郁症的澳大利亚年轻男性的数据。使用 Pearson χ 检验进行有序分类变量分析。
该人群的饮食摄入较差。随意食品每周食用两到三次，包括比萨饼（41%）、炸薯条（如薯条或薯饼）（29%）和巧克力（25%）。大约一半的参与者（47%）报告从未食用过全谷物或豆类，只有 9%的人说他们每天吃两次或更多蔬菜。健康饮食既费时（82%）又昂贵（70%）。三分之一（32%）的参与者认为他们的饮食对心理健康有重大影响，29%的人认为有轻微影响，只有 5%的人报告饮食对心理健康没有影响。然而，大多数参与者（84%）认为饮食健康很重要或非常重要，77%的人表示如果改善抑郁症状，他们愿意改变饮食。
这些结果突出了这一人群相对较差的饮食。这群年轻男性将极大地受益于高质量的饮食，如地中海饮食。报告的改变饮食的意愿令人鼓舞，支持在这一年龄段进行饮食干预试验的可行性。本研究中提供的饮食数据可用于制定旨在改善抑郁年轻男性饮食的针对性干预措施。
