Exploring the relationship between dietary quality, eating behavior, and mental health among young adults

This study is the first census-matched study of Czech young adults to examine emotion-regulation strategies in relation to both diet quality and eating behaviors. These findings reveal complex and partly counterintuitive associations-for example, rumination was linked to healthier diet quality, while some ostensibly adaptive strategies coincided with more dysregulated eating. These results should be interpreted as exploratory and hypothesis-generating, underscoring the potential relevance of cognitive-emotional mechanisms for future nutritional psychiatry interventions. Integrating approaches that address maladaptive strategies such as catastrophizing with dietary guidance may represent a promising direction for prevention and health-promotion efforts but requires confirmation in longitudinal and experimental studies.