Dietary antioxidants and fiber intake and depressive symptoms in Iranian adolescent girls. - GreenMedInfo Summary

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 ofα-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 depressionsymptoms (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.