Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Södra Grev Rosengatan 32, 70362 Örebro, Sweden.
School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meal Science, Örebro University, 71202 Grythyttan, Sweden.
Nutrients. 2021 Mar 10;13(3):902. doi: 10.3390/nu13030902.
Healthy diet interventions have been shown to improve depressive symptoms, but there is a need for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that are double blind and investigate biological mechanisms. The primary objectives of this randomized controlled pilot trial were to test the palatability of the meals and the acceptability of the intervention in preparation for an 8-week RCT in the future, which will investigate whether a healthy Nordic diet improves depressive symptoms in individuals with major depressive disorder, and associated biological mechanisms. Depressed ( = 10) and non-depressed ( = 6) women and men were randomized to receive either a healthy Nordic diet (ND) or a control diet (CD) for 8 days. Participants were blinded to their diet allocation and the study hypotheses. Health questionnaires were completed before and after the intervention and, throughout the study, questionnaires assessed participants' liking for the meals, their sensory properties, adherence, and open-ended feedback. In the ND group, 75% of participants consumed only the provided foods, as instructed, compared to 50% of CD participants. The meals of both diets, on average, received good ratings for liking and sensory properties, though the ND ratings were somewhat higher. Overall, results were positive and informative, indicating that the planned RCT will be feasible and well-accepted, with some proposed modifications.
健康饮食干预已被证明可以改善抑郁症状，但仍需要进行双盲、探究生物学机制的随机对照试验（RCT）。本随机对照试验的主要目的是测试餐食的美味程度和干预措施的可接受性，为未来 8 周的 RCT 做准备，以探究健康的北欧饮食是否能改善重度抑郁症患者的抑郁症状及其相关生物学机制。将抑郁患者（n=10）和非抑郁患者（n=6）随机分为接受健康的北欧饮食（ND）或对照饮食（CD）组，分别进食 8 天。参与者对自己的饮食分配和研究假设均不知情。干预前后完成健康问卷，研究过程中，通过问卷评估参与者对餐食的喜好程度、感官特性、依从性和开放性反馈。在 ND 组中，与 CD 组的 50%相比，75%的参与者按照要求只食用提供的食物。两种饮食的餐食在喜好和感官特性方面的评价都不错，尽管 ND 的评价略高一些。总体而言，结果是积极且有启发性的，表明计划中的 RCT 将是可行且易于接受的，同时需要进行一些修改。
