A recent study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database and explored the potential correlation between dietary sugar intake and depression risk among adults in the United States. The findings of this study were published in the recent edition of BMC Psychiatry journal.
In a stride to address the inconsistency in previous findings regarding this relationship between sugar consumption and depression, the research team led by Lu Zhang analyzed data from a total of 18,439 adults aged 20 years and above. This extensive study spanned from 2011 to 2018 and majorly assessed the depressive symptoms using the nine-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and adjusted for various demographic and health-related factors such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits and medical history.
The results of the study revealed a significant association between dietary sugar intake and depression risk. The study also found that for every 100 gram per day increase in dietary sugar intake, there was a 28% higher prevalence of depression among the participants. The findings were statistically significant with a confidence interval of 95%.
These findings suggest that dietary sugar intake may play a pivotal role in the development or exacerbation of depressive symptoms among adults. While previous studies have showed inconsistent results on this topic, this large-scale analysis provides compelling evidence for a positive association between sugar consumption and depression. Further research is imperative to better understand the mechanisms underlying this association and to explore potential interventions or dietary guidelines that could help reduce the risk of depression linked with high sugar consumption.
Source:
Zhang, L., Sun, H., Liu, Z., Yang, J., & Liu, Y. (2024). Association between dietary sugar intake and depression in US adults: a cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2018. BMC Psychiatry, 24(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05531-7