Depression Relationship with Dietary Patterns and Dietary Inflammatory Index in Women: Result from Ravansar Cohort Study

Jalal Moludi,^{1– 3} Mehdi Moradinazar,¹ Behrooz Hamzeh,¹ Farid Najafi,⁴ Davood Soleimani,³ Yahya Pasdar<sup>1,3

1</sup>Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran; ²Clinical Research Development Center, Imam Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran; ³Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Nutritional Sciences and Food Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran; ⁴Social Development and Health Promotion Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

Correspondence: Yahya Pasdar
Department of Nutritional Sciences,School of Nutritional Sciences and Food Technology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
Tel +98-8338362008
Email Yahya.pasdar@kums.ac.ir

Background and aims: Chronic inflammation is thought to have a major role in the pathophysiology of depression. Diet has been shown to modulate the inflammatory state, thus emphasizing its potential as a therapeutic role in depression. But, little is known about the relationship between dietary intake and depression. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between major dietary patterns, a dietary inflammatory index (DII) score, and depression among women.
Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study included 4630 women aged 35– 65 years using baseline data from the Ravansar Non-Communicable Diseases (RaNCD) cohort study in Western Iran. Diet was evaluated using a validated 125-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to determine DII scores and dietary patterns. Traditional, healthy, and unhealthy dietary patterns were extracted using factor analyses.
Results: A significant upward trend in the odds of depression was observed across the tertiles s of DII scores (P-trend: 0.019). After the adjustment for possible risk factors, a high adherence to an unhealthy dietary pattern was associated with a higher risk of depression than a low adherence (OR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.1– 2.4). A high adherence to a healthy dietary pattern was associated with the lower odds (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.04– 0.92). Among the main food groups, a high intake of eggs and refined grains was associated with a higher risk of depression.
Conclusion: In women, a refined grain dietary pattern is a risk factor for depression, whereas a healthy dietary pattern is protective. We have also shown that adherence to a pro-inflammatory diet was significantly associated with depression. Adherence to a dietary pattern with high intakes of dairy products, seafood, red meats, nuts, vegetables, fruits, flavor, and vegetable oils and diets with low inflammatory properties were associated with a lower risk of depression in women.

Keywords: depression, food group, dietary pattern, dietary inflammatory index