BMC Psychiatry

Higher daily sugar intake increases risk for depression

February 21, 2024

This cross-sectional study revealed a positive relationship between dietary sugar intake and depression in American adults. After adjusting for other confounding factors, this relationship was found to be linear, and the risk of depression increased with higher dietary sugar intake.

• The study included 18,439 adults (age ≥20 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database (2011-2018)
• Depressive symptoms were assessed using the nine-item version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
• Covariates, including age, sex, race/ethnicity, poverty-income ratio, education, marital status, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, CV disease, alcohol intake, smoking status, physical activity, and dietary energy intake, were adjusted in multivariate logistic regression models. Subgroup and threshold saturation effect analyses were performed.
• After adjusting for potential confounders, researchers found that a 100 gram/day increase in dietary sugar intake correlated with a 28% higher prevalence of depression (odds ratio, 1.28; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.40; P<0.001).
• Participants with the highest quartile of dietary sugar intake (≥141.76 grams/day) were likely to be younger, of male gender, highly educated, non-Hispanic White, married or cohabitating. Participants were also likely to have lower income, consume more alcohol, never smoked, had no hypertension, diabetes, or CVD, a higher energy intake, and did not engage in physical activity.
• Authors note that further studies are required to explore the underlying mechanisms and the potential benefits of controlling dietary sugar intake in patients with depression.

Source:

Zhang L, et al. (2024, February 8). BMC Psychiatry. 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. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38326834/