Department of Psychology, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, Indiana, USA.
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2023;63(19):3556-3573. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2021.1974336. Epub 2021 Oct 6.
In this meta-analysis, we examined the quantitative relation between meat consumption or avoidance, depression, and anxiety. In June 2020, we searched five online databases for primary studies examining differences in depression and anxiety between meat abstainers and meat consumers that offered a clear (dichotomous) distinction between these groups. Twenty studies met the selection criteria representing 171,802 participants with 157,778 meat consumers and 13,259 meat abstainers. We calculated the magnitude of the effect between meat consumers and meat abstainers with bias correction (Hedges's effect size) where higher and positive scores reflect better outcomes for meat consumers. Meat consumption was associated with lower depression (Hedges's = 0.216, 95% CI [0.14 to 0.30], < .001) and lower anxiety ( = 0.17, 95% CI [0.03 to 0.31], = .02) compared to meat abstention. Compared to vegans, meat consumers experienced both lower depression ( = 0.26, 95% CI [0.01 to 0.51], = .041) and anxiety ( = 0.15, 95% CI [-0.40 to 0.69], = .598). Sex did not modify these relations. Study quality explained 58% and 76% of between-studies heterogeneity in depression and anxiety, respectively. The analysis also showed that the more rigorous the study, the more positive and consistent the relation between meat consumption and better mental health. The current body of evidence precludes causal and temporal inferences.
在这项荟萃分析中，我们研究了肉类消费或回避与抑郁和焦虑之间的定量关系。2020 年 6 月，我们在五个在线数据库中搜索了研究肉类禁食者和肉食者之间抑郁和焦虑差异的原始研究，这些研究对这两组人群进行了明确（二分法）区分。有 20 项研究符合选择标准，代表了 171802 名参与者，其中 157778 名肉食者和 13259 名素食者。我们使用偏倚校正（Hedges's 效应量）计算了肉食者和素食者之间的效应量大小，其中较高和正值反映了肉食者更好的结果。与肉类禁食者相比，肉类消费与较低的抑郁（Hedges's = 0.216，95% CI [0.14 至 0.30]， <.001）和焦虑（ = 0.17，95% CI [0.03 至 0.31]， =.02）相关。与严格素食者相比，肉食者的抑郁（ = 0.26，95% CI [0.01 至 0.51]， =.041）和焦虑（ = 0.15，95% CI [-0.40 至 0.69]， =.598）均较低。性别并未改变这些关系。研究质量分别解释了抑郁和焦虑之间 58%和 76%的研究间异质性。分析还表明，研究越严格，肉类消费与更好的心理健康之间的关系就越积极和一致。目前的证据不允许进行因果和时间推断。
