Средиземноморская диета снижает риск возникновения депрессии

Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez said the risk for depression was substantially lower in participants with higher adherence to the MDP and that depression rates were about 30% lower in those with the highest consumption of fruit, nuts, legumes, and monounsaturated vs saturated fats.

"The important thing regarding fish is that a very low consumption of fish (lowest quintile) was in fact a risk factor when it was compared with the 3 upper categories of fish consumption (merged together)," he added.

The researchers were trying to determine why the lifetime prevalence of mental disorders is lower in Mediterranean than Northern European countries. One possible factor is diet, as previous research has suggested that the monounsaturated fatty acids in olive oil — used abundantly in the Mediterranean diet — may be associated with a lower risk for severe depressive symptoms.

The study included 10,094 healthy Spanish participants who reported their dietary intake on a food frequency questionnaire. After a median follow-up of 4.4 years, there were 480 new cases of depression. Individuals who followed the Mediterranean diet most closely had a greater than 30% reduction in the risk for depression than whose who had the lowest Mediterranean diet scores. The association did not change when the results were adjusted for other markers of a healthy lifestyle.

The strength of the inverse association between the [MDP] and depression surprised the investigators. "The new question for us is that if these results will be reproduced in a primary prevention trial," Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez said. "Another new question is whether the MDP is longitudinally associated with increased serum levels of BDNF," or brain-derived neurotrophic factor — a peptide critical for axonal growth, neuronal survival, and synaptic plasticity.

According to the authors, "An emerging concept in neuroscience is that perturbations in the health of cerebral endothelium (such as some loss of the neuroprotection afforded by BDNF) may mediate progressive neuronal dysfunction." Depression is associated with low BDNF in some patients.

Mediterranean Diet Cut Depression Risk by 30%