Original StudyAssociations between Dietary Pattern and Depression in Korean Adolescent Girls
Introduction
Adolescence is a sensitive period during which one experiences physical, social, and psychological changes caused by increases in pubertal hormones.1 Mental health issues became important for adolescents, as the vulnerability to mental illness increases during times of transition from childhood to adolescence and then to adulthood.2 Around 50% of all lifetime mental disorders start by the age of 14,3 although most are undiagnosed and are detected later in life.4 When psychiatric disorders are not treated with care at an early stage, social problems may result; one such disorder, depression, is associated with suicide.5, 6 Suicide in the leading cause of death in Korean teenagers, and the rate of death by suicide has steadily increased over the last decade.7 Although both boys and girls display a similar risk of depression prior to adolescence, the prevalence of depression disorders in girls is greater than that in boys after puberty,4, 8 possibly due to alterations in ovarian hormones.9
The importance of the adolescent diet has been the focus of previous studies examining the association between nutrient intake and mental health in adolescence.10, 11 Consumption of processed foods, take-out and fast foods, vegetables, and fruits was associated with the risk of depression in Australian10 and Chinese11 adolescents. However, Brook et al12 reported that a healthy diet was associated with reduced risk of depression in adolescent girls, but not boys, although the study did not define a healthy diet. Another study in American adolescent girls showed no significant association between depressive symptoms and intake of snacks, fast foods, vegetables, and fruits.13 Thus, in an effort to reconcile these inconsistent findings, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate correlations between dietary patterns and depression in adolescent girls.
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
This study was a case-control study performed in the physical examination center for adolescents at our university. Adolescent girls 12 to 18 years of age were recruited from January 2011 to December 2012 during visits to the center for annual routine health examinations. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of University Hospital, and written informed consent was obtained from all participants and their parents.
During the physical examination, height and weight were
Results
Characteristics of the depression group and nondepression are shown in Table 1. There were no significant differences between the groups in age, weight, height, BMI, and menstrual history, including the age at menarche and use of analgesics, except for menstrual regularity. Regarding the presence of menstruation, 3 girls in the control group reported only 1 or 2 episodes of vaginal spotting; consequently, these 3 girls could not say whether they had experienced true menstruation. Regarding
Discussion
In the present study, consumption of instant foods including ramen, hamburger, pizza, fried foods, and processed foods such as ham, fish paste, and snacks was associated with increased depression and was positively correlated to K-BDI scores in adolescent girls after adjusting for menstrual regularity and energy intake. By contrast, consumption of green vegetables and 1 to 3 servings/day of fruits were associated with decreased risk of depression. The present study is the first report to
References (39)
The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations
Neurosci Biobehav Rev
(2000)Trajectories of brain development: point of vulnerability or window of opportunity?
Neurosci Biobehav Rev
(2003)- et al.
Major depressive disorder in older adolescents: prevalence, risk factors, and clinical implications
Clin Psychol Rev
(1998) - et al.
Suicide in young people aged 15-24: a psychological autopsy study
J Affect Disord
(2001) - et al.
Association of adolescent risk behaviors with mental health symptoms in high school students
J Adolesc Health
(2002) - et al.
Depressive symptoms and adolescent eating and health behaviors: a multifaceted view in a population-based sample
Prev Med
(2004) - et al.
A high-fat, refined sugar diet reduces hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neuronal plasticity, and learning
Neuroscience
(2002) - et al.
Decreased serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in major depressed patients
Psychiatry Res
(2002) - et al.
Depression among adults with diabetes in Jordan: risk factors and relationship to blood sugar control
J Diabet Complications
(2011) - et al.
Health benefits of fruits and vegetables
Adv Nutr
(2012)
Efficacy of dietary antioxidants to prevent oxidative damage and inhibit chronic disease
J Nutr
Homocysteine and folate metabolism in depression
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
Low dietary or supplemental zinc is associated with depression symptoms among women, but not men, in a population-based epidemiological survey
J Affect Disord
Free radicals, antioxidants, and nutrition
Nutrition
Maternal iron deficiency anemia affects postpartum emotions and cognition
J Nutr
Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication
Arch Gen Psychiatry
Suicide ideation: its relation to depression, suicide and suicide attempt
Suicide Life Threat Behav
Annual report on the cause of death statistics in 2011
Depression in women: implications for health care research
Science
Cited by (0)
This research was supported by the Soonchunhyang University Research Fund (Soonchunhyang University Support Fund Project No. 20130618) and by the Dalim Biotec. The authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
- †
Tae-Hee Kim and Ji-young Choi contributed equally to this work.
- ‡
Hae-Hyeog Lee and Yongsoon Park are supervisors and co-corresponding authors in the field of clinic and nutrition field. Both Lee and Park are in charge of the whole process from the research plan to the submission.