Mediterranean diet and mental health symptoms among Brazilian adults from a health care center

Background: Mediterranean diet (MD) may have many health benefits for depression and anxiety symptoms on adults. Aim: to evaluate the adherence to the MD and mental health symptoms. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 199 adults (M age = 31.35 ± 9.12; 71.36% female) from a health care center in São Paulo, Brazil. Mental health symptoms were evaluated using the Becky's Depression and Anxiety Inventory and MD via 78-item food frequency questionnaire. Sleep patterns were also evaluated as potential influences. Chi-square and ANOVA analysis were used to evaluate differences between mental health symptoms and MD. Results: The average dietary MD scores of participants was 4.86 ± 1.45 out of 7 requiring improvement. Higher adherence to the MD was associated with lower depression scores (T1 = 12.88 ± 8.51 vs. T3 = 10.19 ± 7.96). Mean anxiety (M = 10.27) and sleepiness scores (M = 7.96) were below cut-offs for moderate to severe symptoms. Significant differences in depression symptoms were found for saturated fat intake and the MUFA/SFA ratio. Conclusion: Greater severity of depression and anxiety symptoms was associated with lower MD adherence. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.