"Maybe it's Not Just the Food?" A Food and Mood Focus Group Study

'Nostalgic food heals for us': A qualitative exploration of experiences with nostalgia, food, and mood

ISSUE ADDRESSED

Nostalgia-the bittersweet reliving of the past-has been linked to social connection and psychological wellbeing. Although food consumption is often an intrinsically social experience, relatively little research has examined how individuals experience and understand how food consumption relates to feelings of nostalgia, food and mood.

METHODS

In the current study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight Australians from varying cultural backgrounds to explore their experiences with nostalgia, food and mood.

RESULTS

Reflexive thematic analysis identified three key themes from the data: (i) The bittersweet experiences of food-evoked nostalgia-individuals' descriptions of food-evoked nostalgia and how it impacted their mood both positively and negatively (ii) social connection and identity continuity-participants' description of food-evoked nostalgia and how this provides an opportunity for social connection and identity continuity throughout life, which positively influences mood, and (iii) the role and relationship of food-evoked nostalgia and mood-individual descriptions of the important role that nostalgic food plays in their life, in addition to their relationship with food, and how this impacts mood.

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the positive component of nostalgic foods allowed individuals to bolster positive mood states with food-evoked nostalgia, increasing their quality of life. SO WHAT?: Understanding the link between food-evoked nostalgia and mood has significant implications, suggesting that negative mood states altered by nostalgic foods may result in positive mood states. Appropriate use of food-evoked nostalgia may increase the quality of life for individuals experiencing low mood states.

Nutritional considerations in major depressive disorder: current evidence and functional testing for clinical practice

Depression is a multifaceted condition with diverse underlying causes. Several contributing and inter-related factors such as genetic, nutritional, neurological, physiological, gut-brain-axis, metabolic and psychological stress factors play a role in the pathophysiology of depression. This review aims to highlight the role that nutritional factors play in the aetiology of depression. Secondly, we discuss the biomedical and functional pathology tests which measure these factors, and the current evidence supporting their use. Lastly, we make recommendations on how practitioners can incorporate the latest evidence-based research findings into clinical practice. This review highlights that diet and nutrition greatly affect the pathophysiology of depression. Nutrients influence gene expression, with folate and vitamin B12 playing vital roles in methylation reactions and homocysteine regulation. Nutrients are also involved in the tryptophan/kynurenine pathway and the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Additionally, diet influences the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response and the composition and diversity of the gut microbiome, both of which have been implicated in depression. A comprehensive dietary assessment, combined with appropriate evaluation of biochemistry and blood pathology, may help uncover contributing factors to depressive symptoms. By employing such an approach, a more targeted and personalised treatment strategy can be devised, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes.

A longitudinal analysis of Australian women's fruit and vegetable consumption and depressive symptoms

BACKGROUND

In Australia, women report higher rates of depressive symptoms than men. Research suggests that dietary patterns rich in fresh fruit and vegetables could protect against depressive symptoms. The Australian Dietary Guidelines suggest that consuming two servings of fruit and five serves of vegetables per day is optimal for overall health. However, this consumption level is often difficult for those experiencing depressive symptoms to achieve.

AIMS

This study aims to compare diet quality and depressive symptoms in Australian women over time using (I) two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables per day (FV7), and (ii) two serves of fruit and three serves of vegetables per day (FV5).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health over 12 years at three time points 2006 (n = 9145, Mean age = 30.6, SD = 1.5), 2015 (n = 7186, Mean age = 39.7, SD = 1.5), and 2018 (n = 7121, Mean age = 42.4, SD = 1.5).

RESULTS

A linear mixed effects model found, after adjusting for covarying factors, a small significant inverse association between both FV7 (b = -.54, 95% CI = -.78, -.29) and FV5 (b = -.38, 95% CI = -.50, -.26) in depressive symptoms.

DISCUSSION

These findings suggest an association between fruit and vegetable consumption and decreased depressive symptoms. The small effect sizes indicate caution should be taken in interpreting these results. The findings also suggest that current Australian Dietary Guideline recommendations need not be prescriptive to two fruit and five vegetables for impact on depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Future research could evaluate reduced vegetable consumption (three serves per day) in identifying the protective threshold for depressive symptoms.

The Association between Vegan, Vegetarian, and Omnivore Diet Quality and Depressive Symptoms in Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Dietary patterns and depressive symptoms are associated in cross-sectional and prospective-designed research. However, limited research has considered depression risk related to meat-based and plant-based dietary patterns. This study explores the association between diet quality and depressive symptoms across omnivore, vegan, and vegetarian dietary patterns. A cross-sectional online survey utilised the Dietary Screening Tool (DST) and the Centre for Epidemiological Studies of Depression Scale (CESD-20) to measure diet quality and depressive symptoms, respectively. A total of 496 participants identified as either omnivores (n = 129), vegetarians (n = 151), or vegans (n = 216). ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc corrections indicates that dietary quality was significantly different between groups F(2, 493) = 23.61, p < 0.001 for omnivores and vegetarians and omnivores and vegans. Diet quality was highest in the vegan sample, followed by vegetarian and omnivore patterns. The results show a significant, moderately negative relationship between higher diet quality and lower depressive symptoms (r = -0.385, p < 0.001) across groups. Hierarchical regression showed that diet quality accounted for 13% of the variability in depressive symptoms for the omnivore sample, 6% for vegetarians, and 8% for vegans. This study suggests that diet quality in a meat-based or plant-based diet could be a modifiable lifestyle factor with the potential to reduce the risk of depressive symptoms. The study indicates a greater protective role of a high-quality plant-based diet and lower depressive symptoms. Further intervention research is needed to understand the bi-directional relationship between diet quality and depressive symptoms across dietary patterns.