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Does the MIND diet decrease depression risk? A comparison with Mediterranean diet in the SUN cohort

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Abstract

Purpose

To prospectively evaluate the association of the Mediterranean-DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay (MIND) diet and the Mediterranean diet (and their components), and depression risk.

Methods

We followed-up (median 10.4 years) 15,980 adults initially free of depression at baseline or in the first 2 years of follow-up. Food consumption was measured at baseline through a validated food-frequency questionnaire, and was used to compute adherence to the MIND and the Mediterranean diets. Relationships between these two diets and incident depression were assessed through Cox regression models.

Results

We identified 666 cases of incident depression. Comparing the highest versus the lowest quartiles of adherence, we found no association of the MIND diet and incident depression. This relation was statistically significant for the Mediterranean diet {hazard ratio (HR) 0.75, [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.61, 0.94]; p < 0.01}, although with departure from linearity. A reduced depression risk was associated with higher consumption of both fruits and nuts [HR 0.82 (95% CI 0.69, 0.96); p = 0.02], moderate nuts consumption [HR 0.77 (95% CI 0.64, 0.93); p = 0.01], and avoidance of fast/fried food [HR 0.63 (95% CI 0.41, 0.96); p = 0.03].

Conclusions

The Mediterranean diet was associated with reduced depression risk, but we found no evidence of such an association for the MIND diet.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the participants of the SUN cohort for their continuous involvement in the project and all members of the SUN study for their support and collaboration.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical School, Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Navarra, 31008, Pamplona, Spain

    Ujué Fresán, Maira Bes-Rastrollo, Francisca Lahortiga, Pedro-Antonio de la Rosa & Miguel-Angel Martínez-Gonzalez

  2. Center for Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyles, and Disease Prevention, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, 92350, USA

    Ujué Fresán & Gina Segovia-Siapco

  3. Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdisNa), 31008, Pamplona, Spain

    Maira Bes-Rastrollo & Miguel-Angel Martínez-Gonzalez

  4. CIBER Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERobn), III Institute of Health, Carlos, 28029, Madrid, Spain

    Maira Bes-Rastrollo, Almudena Sanchez-Villegas & Miguel-Angel Martínez-Gonzalez

  5. Nutrition Research Group, Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35001, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Almudena Sanchez-Villegas

  6. Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Francisca Lahortiga

  7. Department of Nutrition, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA

    Miguel-Angel Martínez-Gonzalez

  8. School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, 24951 Circle Dr Nichol Hall 1304, Loma Linda, CA, 92350-1718, USA

    Ujué Fresán

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  1. Ujué Fresán
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ujué Fresán.

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Financial support

The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Project has received funding from the Spanish Government-Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER: MAMG) [CIBER-OBN (MAMG), PI10/02293 (MBR), PI13/00615 (MBR), PI14/01668 (MBR), and G03/140 (MAMG)], the Navarra Regional Government [45/2011(MBR), 122/2014 (MBR)], and the University of Navarra.

Ethical standards

During recruitment, potential participants were provided details about the study and what participation entails. They were also aware that they could withdraw from the study anytime without any adverse consequence. Voluntary completion of the baseline questionnaire was considered consent to participate. Details regarding the cohort have been previously reported. The Research Ethics Committee of the University of Navarra approved the study.

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Fresán, U., Bes-Rastrollo, M., Segovia-Siapco, G. et al. Does the MIND diet decrease depression risk? A comparison with Mediterranean diet in the SUN cohort. Eur J Nutr 58, 1271–1282 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-018-1653-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-018-1653-x

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