In new research, scientists from the University of the Sunshine Coast and the University of South Australia found that adherence to a Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with severity of symptoms related to anxiety and stress in community-dwelling older Australians; however, this relationship was not observed for depressive symptoms. The researchers also observed that specific dietary components of a Mediterranean diet, including a low consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages as well as increased fruit, nut and legume consumption, were all independently and inversely associated with symptoms of anxiety.
Mediterranean diet is inversely associated with the severity of symptoms related to anxiety and stress.
In the study, University of the Sunshine Coast researcher Anthony Villani and his colleagues explored the independent associations between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and severity of symptoms related to depression, anxiety and stress in older adults.
The study involved a total of 294 independently living older adults (70.4 years) from Australia.
It showed that adherence to a Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with severity of symptoms related to anxiety and stress. However, adherence to the diet was not related to depressive symptoms.
In addition, it showed that certain individual dietary elements of the diet, including fruit, nuts, legumes and a low consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (less than 250 ml per day) were inversely associated with the severity of symptoms related to anxiety and stress.
“These foods were key markers in the study of more than 300 older Australians,” said Dr. Anthony Villani, a researcher at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
“Overall, the research found a lower intensity of anxiety symptoms in people who followed a Mediterranean style diet, which is high in fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fish and of course olive oil.”
“When we examined individual food groups within the diet, the strongest impacts on easing anxiety and stress were related to a high intake of legumes and nuts and a low intake of sugar-sweetened beverages — less than one can of soft drink a week.”
“Nuts and legumes are rich in fiber, healthy fats and antioxidants which are likely to help produce good bacteria in the gut, lower inflammation and in turn have a favorable effect on brain health.”
“Higher vegetable intake was also associated with lower symptoms of depression, although we were surprised the overall findings were not stronger for alleviating depression and this warrants further study.”
“The sugary drinks result reflected other research that connected ultra processed foods with chronic disease,” he added.
“There is already good evidence that a Mediterranean diet is associated with lower depressive symptoms in younger and middle-aged people, but we wanted to examine the potential mental health benefits for older people.”
The study controlled other factors associated with poor mental health in otherwise healthy adults, such as sleep, physical activity, body fat and cognition level.
“This means that regardless of your sleep, weight, exercise or brain function, a healthy diet really does matter when it comes to good mental health,” Dr. Villani said.
“The next step would be to conduct human clinical trials.”
The findings were published in the journal Nutrients.
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Lisa Allcock et al. 2024. Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet Is Inversely Associated with Anxiety and Stress but Not Depression: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Community-Dwelling Older Australians. Nutrients 16 (3): 366; doi: 10.3390/nu16030366
Source : Breaking Science News