Diet quality and depression risk
In the SUN cohort, higher adherence to Mediterranean, pro-vegetarian, and AHEI-2010 diet scores tracked with lower risk of incident depression over about 8.5 years.
Source
A longitudinal analysis of diet quality scores and the risk of incident depression in the SUN Project
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — SUN Project prospective cohort; diet scores as time-updated exposures
- N
- N=15093 · Spanish adults free of depression at baseline
- Population
- Spanish university-graduate adults without baseline physician-diagnosed depression
- Outcome
- Incident physician-diagnosed depression (HRs by MDS, PDP, AHEI-2010 adherence)
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Diet quality and depression risk
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
15,093 participants were included after exclusions.
After exclusions, 15,093 participants were included in this study.
What cohort supplied the data?
The aim of the SUN Project is to identify dietary and lifestyle determinants of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease or depression, among other conditions.
What they did
Investigators followed 15,093 Spanish adults free of depression at baseline, scored diet quality with MDS, PDP, and AHEI-2010, and estimated hazard ratios for new physician-diagnosed depression.
What they found
Better adherence to all three diet-quality scores predicted lower depression risk, with a threshold-like rather than strictly linear dose–response; PDP highest vs lowest quintile HRs were about 0.78 (baseline) and 0.74 (updated diet).
The limits
What it doesn't show
Observational associations cannot prove diet causes less depression, and residual confounding or self-report bias may remain.
Key terms
- SUN Project
- Spanish dynamic cohort studying diet and lifestyle determinants of chronic disease.
- MDS
- Mediterranean Diet Score reflecting traditional Mediterranean eating patterns.
- PDP
- Pro-vegetarian Dietary Pattern emphasizing plant foods over animal foods.
- AHEI-2010
- Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 scoring diet quality components.
- Incident depression
- New depression cases arising during follow-up among those free at baseline.
- Hazard ratio
- Relative instantaneous risk comparing exposure groups over time.
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What study design is this?
Common questions
How large was the analytic sample?
15,093 participants after exclusions.
How many new depression cases occurred?
1,051 incident cases over a median 8.5 years.
Which diets were scored?
Mediterranean Diet Score, Pro-vegetarian Dietary Pattern, and AHEI-2010.
Was the diet–depression link linear?
No; authors describe a threshold pattern with most benefit from low to moderate adherence.
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