Associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and psychological distress: results from a population-based study

作者:Richard Aline*; Rohrmann Sabine; Vandeleur Caroline L; Mohler Kuo Meichun; Eichholzer Monika
来源:BMC Psychiatry, 2015, 15(1): 213.
DOI:10.1186/s12888-015-0597-4

摘要

Background: Several studies observed associations of various aspects of diet with mental health, but little is known about the relationship between following the 5-a-day recommendation for fruit and vegetables consumption and mental health. Thus, we examined the associations of the Swiss daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake with psychological distress. Methods: Data from 20,220 individuals aged 15+ years from the 2012 Swiss Health Survey were analyzed. The recommended portions of fruit and vegetables per day were defined as 5-a-day (at least 2 portions of fruit and 3 of vegetables). The outcome was perceived psychological distress over the previous 4 weeks (measured by the 5-item mental health index [MHI-5]). High distress (MHI-5 score <= 52), moderate distress (MHI-5 > 52 and <= 72) and low distress (MHI-5 > 72 and <= 100) were differentiated and multinomial logistic regression analyses adjusted for known confounding factors were performed. Results: The 5-a-day recommendation was met by 11.6 % of the participants with low distress, 9.3 % of those with moderate distress, and 6.2 % of those with high distress. Consumers fulfilling the 5-a-day recommendation had lower odds of being highly or moderately distressed than individuals consuming less fruit and vegetables (moderate vs. low distress: OR = 0.82, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.69-0.97; high vs. low distress: OR = 0.55, 95 % CI 0.41-0.75). Conclusions: Daily intake of 5 servings of fruit and vegetable was associated with lower psychological distress. Longitudinal studies are needed to further determine the causal nature of this relationship.