foodconsumer.org: Mediterranean diet linked to reduced risk of depression

Mediterranean diet linked to reduced risk of depression
================================================================================
admin on 10/06/2009 03:48:00
 
Tuesday Oct 06, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) – Eating a Mediterranean-style diet
may reduce risk of depression, according to a new study reported in the October
2009 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Incidence of metal disorders is lower in Mediterranean than Norther European
countries, according to background information in the article.
The observation prompted researchers of University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
and Clinic of the University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, and colleagues to
speculate that the diet used in the Mediterranean countries may have something
to do with the lower risk of depression.
For the study, Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, B. Pharm., Ph.D. and colleagues
surveyed 10,094 healthy Spanish men and women between 1999 and 2005 for their
consumption of various foods including fat, alcohol, dairy products, meat,
legumes, fruit, nuts, cereals, vegetables and fish, which are commonly used in
Mediterranean diet.
After the 4.4-year follow-up, the researchers identified 480 new cases of
depression including 156 in men and 324 in women and they found  those who most
closely adhered to the Mediterranean diet had a greater than 30 percent
reduction in the risk of depression than those who least adhered to the diet.
The association was significant even after other known risk factors such as
lifestyle, marital status and use of seat-belts were considered in the analysis.
"The specific mechanisms by which a better adherence to the Mediterranean
dietary pattern could help to prevent the occurrence of depression are not well
known," the authors write.
Previous research has already shown that the monounsaturated fatty acids in
olive oil commonly used in the Mediterranean diet are associated with a lower
risk of severe depressive symptoms.
"Components of the Mediterranean diet may improve blood vessel function, fight
inflammation, reduce risk for heart disease and repair oxygen-related cell
damage, all of which may decrease the chances of developing depression," JAMA
and Archives Journals says in a press release.
Almudena Sánchez-Villegas and colleagues write "It is plausible that the
synergistic combination of a sufficient provision of omega-three fatty acids
together with other natural unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants from olive
oil and nuts, flavonoids and other phytochemicals from fruit and other plant
foods and large amounts of natural folates and other B vitamins in the overall
Mediterranean dietary pattern may exert a fair degree of protection against
depression."
Early studies have linked low bone mineral density to increased risk of major
depression, which suggests that insufficient intake or malabsorption of of
minerals like calcium may be a risk factor for depression.  Studies have already
found calcium deficiency was linked to depression.
At least one study in the April 2008 issue of Journal of the American College of
Nutrition found that a Mediterranean dietary pattern improved calcium
utilization in health male adolescents.
High concentrations of calcium are found in both animal-based foods such as
milk, yogurt and cheddar cheese and plant-based foods such as pinto beans, red
beans, white beans, tofu, bok choy, kale, Chinese cabbage, broccoli, rhubarb and
spinach.
The calcium in plant-based foods is more easily absorbed than that in milk. The
foods that contain high levels of absorbable calcium include rhubarb, spinach,
Chinese cabbage, tofu, red beans, and pinto beans.
By David Liu - davidl at foodconsumer dot org