Alternative Health Blog

In a prospective study involving data from 10,094 initially healthy Spanish subjects, adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet (high in consumption of vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereal, legumes, fish, ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids intake, moderate alcohol intake, and low intake of meat and whole-fat dairy products) was found to be associated with a significantly reduced risk of incident depression. Subjects were followed up with for a median 4.4 years, during which time 480 new cases of depression were identified (324 women, 156 men). Adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet was associated with reduced multiple adjusted hazard ratios (4 upper successive categories of adherence to the diet: 0.74, 0.66, 0.49, 0.58) of incident depression, as compared to subjects with the lowest adherence to the diet. Dose-response relationships were found for consumption of fruits and nuts, legumes, and the monounsaturated-to-saturated fatty acids ratio. The aut hors conclude, “Our results suggest a potential protective role of the MDP with regard to the prevention of depressive disorders; additional longitudinal studies and trials are needed to confirm these findings.”

Reference:
“Association of the Mediterranean dietary pattern with the incidence of depression: the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra/University of Navarra follow-up (SUN) cohort,” Sanchez-Villegas A, Delgado-Rodriguez M, et al, Arch Gen Psychiatry, 2009; 66(10): 1090-8.