Faculty of Health and Medicine, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK.
Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Richmond Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1DP, UK.
Health Educ Res. 2023 Jan 20;38(1):28-68. doi: 10.1093/her/cyac035.
University students are at risk of experiencing mental health problems during the transition from home to university. This transition can also adversely affect their diet quality. This review aims to examine bidirectional associations from observational studies regarding the influence of diet quality on the mental health of university students, and vice versa. The databases PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science were searched using relevant search terms. The searches were last updated on 15 July 2022. Majority of studies (36 out of 45) found that good diet quality of students was associated with better mental health in terms of depression, anxiety, stress and overall general mental well-being. Moreover, majority of studies (19 out of 23) found that stress and anxiety of students were associated with poorer diet quality. The effect sizes observed were generally small-moderate. Healthy diets of students have been associated with better mental health in terms of depression, anxiety, stress or other mental health issues. Stress experienced by university students has been associated with unhealthy diets. There are implications for health education research, as interventions to improve diet quality at the university level could reduce mental health issues; additionally, interventions to support students under stress may lead to healthier dietary habits when living on campuses. Randomized controlled trials and intervention studies are needed to further investigate these implications.
大学生在从家庭过渡到大学期间面临心理健康问题的风险。这种转变也会对他们的饮食质量产生不利影响。本综述旨在从观察性研究中检查饮食质量对大学生心理健康的影响以及反之亦然的双向关联。使用相关搜索词在 PubMed、CINAHL、EMBASE、PsycINFO、The Cochrane Library 和 Web of Science 数据库中进行了搜索。最后一次搜索更新于 2022 年 7 月 15 日。大多数研究（45 项中的 36 项）发现，学生良好的饮食质量与更好的心理健康相关，表现在抑郁、焦虑、压力和整体心理健康方面。此外，大多数研究（23 项中的 19 项）发现，学生的压力和焦虑与较差的饮食质量有关。观察到的效应大小通常较小到中等。学生的健康饮食与更好的心理健康相关，表现在抑郁、焦虑、压力或其他心理健康问题方面。大学生所经历的压力与不健康的饮食有关。这对健康教育研究有影响，因为在大学层面改善饮食质量的干预措施可能会减少心理健康问题；此外，支持有压力的学生的干预措施可能会导致他们在校园生活中养成更健康的饮食习惯。需要进行随机对照试验和干预研究来进一步调查这些影响。
