Dietary patterns and depressive symptoms among Filipino women

Diet may influence the biology underpinning depressive illnesses. Using dietary patterns rather than individual nutrients to assess diet and health relationships is increasing but few studies come from developing Asian countries such as the Philippines. We aimed to identify dietary patterns and examine how they relate to high levels of depressive symptoms (HDS, defined as scoring >=75th percentile on a 14-item depression index) using data from 2,007 women (age 35–68 y) from the 2005 Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey. Using factor analysis, we identified 3 patterns: meats and sweets, vegetables, and processed seafoods. Logistic regression analyses that controlled for potential confounders showed that compared to women in the lowest quartile of the meats and sweets pattern, those in the highest quartile were more likely to have HDS (OR 1.67 (1.10–2.53)). Conversely, women in the highest quartile of the vegetable pattern were less likely to have HDS (OR 0.75 (0.53–1.04)). No significant associations were observed for the processed seafoods pattern. Results suggest that dietary patterns may influence the mental health of Filipino women. These findings merit concern as the population gradually shifts from traditional to western diets, typical of a country in nutrition transition.