Objective:
To investigate the cross-sectional association between dietary intakes of antioxidants and fiber and depressive symptoms among Iranian adolescent girls.
Design:
A cross-sectional population-based study.
Setting:
Primary schools in two different cities located in northeastern Iran (Mashhad and Sabzevar).
Participants:
A total of 988 adolescent girls aged 12-18 years were included in the study.
Results:
Subjects with no or minimal depression symptoms had significantly higher dietary intakes of α-carotene (p=0.01), β-carotene (p=0.006), lutein (p=0.03), and vitamin C (p=0.04) when compared with subjects with mild to severe depression symptoms. Soluble dietary fiber and insoluble dietary fiber intakes were also significantly higher in healthy adolescents compared to those with depression symptoms (p<0.001). In multivariate-adjusted model 2, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of depressive symptoms were 0.61 (0.37–1.01), 0.42 (0.26–0.69), 0.50 (0.31–0.79), 0.71 (0.44–1.15), 0.51 (0.32-0.82) and 0.42 (0.25-0.68) for the highest versus lowest quartile of vitamin C, β-carotene, α-carotene, lutein, soluble dietary fiber, and insoluble dietary fiber cereal intakes, respectively.
Conclusion:
Dietary intake of some antioxidants and dietary fiber intake were inversely associated with depression symptoms among Iranian adolescent girls.
Background
Oxidative stress is considered to be a contributory factor for depression, and is affected by the dietary intake of pro-and anti-oxidants. Dietary total antioxidant capacity (DTAC) is an index which is applied to estimate the cumulative power of antioxidants in the whole diet. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between DTAC and prevalence of depression in adolescent girls.
Methods
A total of 741 Iranian adolescent girls aged 12–18 years were recruited into this cross-sectional study. Dietary intake and depression severity score were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire and Beck's depression inventory, respectively. To estimate the DTAC, the oxygen radical absorbance capacity method was used for selected foods. To explore the associations between DTAC and depression, logistic regression was applied using crude and adjusted models.
Results
Individuals in the greatest adherence to high DTAC had more intakes of whole grains, legumes, fruits, dried fruits, low fat dairy products, cruciferous vegetables, fiber, magnesium, vitamin C, folate, potassium, zinc, β-carotene, lutein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin B-6 and lower consumption of refined grains. Subjects in the highest quartile of DTAC had a 39% lower odds of depression compared to those in the first quartile (OR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.38–0.97, P for trend = 0.012); these associations remained significant after adjustments in first, second and third (OR = 0.5; 95% CI: 0.28–0.92, P for trend < 0.001) adjusted models.
Conclusions
An inverse association was observed between the DTAC and the prevalence of depression in our population sample of adolescent girls. Further research needs to be conducted in different areas, including longitudinal studies with larger sample sizes.
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