Researchers Link Adherence to Med Diet with Improved Outlook for Clinically Depressed

Following a Mediterranean diet rich in extra vir­gin olive oil has ben­e­fi­cial effects on indi­vid­u­als suf­fer­ing from symp­toms of depres­sion, accord­ing to a new study out of Spain.

Investigators at the Institute for Health and Research in Aragon looked at the rela­tion­ship between fol­low­ing a Mediterranean diet and the con­sump­tion of spe­cific foods in pri­mary care patients aged 45 to 75. All the patients had sub­clin­i­cal or major depres­sion with or with­out other chronic dis­eases.

The researchers found that a poor diet high in sat­u­rated fats, trans fats, sugar-based foods and fast food is related to recur­rent mood affec­tive dis­or­der symp­toms, result­ing in obe­sity and depres­sion.

However, fol­low­ing a Mediterranean diet, com­pris­ing fruits, nuts, cere­als, fatty fish, small por­tions of meat, some red wine and extra vir­gin olive oil, has ben­e­fi­cial effects on the symp­toms of depres­sion.

According to the Global Burden of Disease, depres­sion is the lead­ing cause of dis­abil­ity world­wide. It is esti­mated that by 2030, mood affec­tive dis­or­ders will be the main con­trib­u­tor to mor­bid­ity.

Depression also has been linked to many chronic dis­eases preva­lent in Western soci­eties. Furthermore, researchers have uncov­ered a direct link between lifestyle, nutri­tion and depres­sion.

“There is a direct cor­re­la­tion between diet and depres­sion, a bet­ter diet causes less depres­sion and vice versa,” Alejandra Aguilar-Latorre, one of the sci­en­tists involved in the study, told Olive Oil Times. ​“Numerous stud­ies have described the rela­tion­ship between the qual­ity of the diet and the pres­ence of per­sis­tent or recur­rent depres­sive symp­toms.”

“Assessing the dietary pat­tern of patients pre­sent­ing depres­sive symp­toms and pro­mot­ing adher­ence to a healthy diet is impor­tant,” she added. ​“However, depres­sion is a big issue, and we should not for­get about its com­plex­i­ties.”

These com­plex­i­ties include bio­log­i­cal, psy­cho­log­i­cal and social fac­tors as well. Diet and nutri­tion alone as a full treat­ment for depres­sion is incon­clu­sive.

However, adher­ing to the Mediterranean diet resulted in increased lev­els of brain-derived neu­rotrophic fac­tors, a neu­rotrophin required for nor­mal devel­op­ment of parts of the ner­vous sys­tem, in depressed patients.

Furthermore, extra vir­gin olive oil is the pri­mary source of fat in the tra­di­tional Mediterranean diet and is rich in polyphe­nols, Omega−3 fatty acids and B vit­a­mins. Meanwhile, nuts con­tain sele­nium, along with Omega‑3 fatty acids. Consumption of these micronu­tri­ents has long been con­sid­ered pos­i­tive effects on depres­sion.

Experimental stud­ies also have estab­lished that con­sum­ing olive oil reg­u­larly pro­vides neu­ro­pro­tec­tive effects, which influ­ence behav­ior via the metab­o­lism of sero­tonin and dopamine neu­ro­trans­mit­ters.

This rein­forces the use of olive oil as a ther­a­peu­tic pro­tec­tive sub­stance to treat depres­sion and anx­i­ety, espe­cially in elderly and mid­dle-aged women.

Aguilar-Latorre said these find­ings are espe­cially impor­tant as they come at a time when adher­ence to the Mediterranean diet in Spain and other Mediterranean coun­tries remains in decline. Consumers are lean­ing toward a more ​“Westernized” diet, which is high in red and processed meats, fried food, refined cere­als, sug­ary drinks and processed foods.

These diets also typ­i­cally lack fresh fruits and veg­eta­bles, which fur­ther leads to dis­eases such as dia­betes, obe­sity and increased lev­els of depres­sion.

“I rec­om­mend avoid­ing the use of sup­ple­ments and improv­ing the qual­ity of your diet, as a first option [for treat­ing depres­sion],” Aguilar-Latorre said. ​“A poor-qual­ity diet is an avoid­able risk fac­tor for depres­sion, sup­port­ing the pos­si­bil­ity of using diet as an adjunc­tive treat­ment.”

“Any change should be under the advice of an expert nutri­tion­ist,” she added. ​“Our research is from the field of psy­chol­ogy, so we must admit our lim­i­ta­tions in terms of nutri­ent intake.”

“However, depres­sion is a very com­plex issue, so the rela­tion­ship between nutri­tion and depres­sion needs to be looked at fur­ther,” Aguilar-Latorre con­tin­ued.

She said that her research group will con­tinue to inves­ti­gate the influ­ence of lifestyles on mood affec­tive dis­or­ders and their symp­toms.

“We are imple­ment­ing a ran­dom­ized clin­i­cal trial in which we advise peo­ple with depres­sion how to change to a healthy lifestyle,” Aguilar-Latorre said. ​“The results are promis­ing: by chang­ing their lifestyles (sleep rou­tine, sun expo­sure, phys­i­cal exer­cise and diet), their depres­sive symp­toms are reduced.”

“These results high­light the impor­tance of imple­ment­ing cost-effec­tive lifestyles med­ica­tion pro­grams in pri­mary health­care cen­ters,” she con­cluded.

• Nutrients
• Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation