Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between diet/nutrition and depression, anxiety and stress accounting for personality traits. First aim was to investigate the relationship between healthy and unhealthy diet and levels of anxiety, depression and stress while accounting for personality traits, secondly to see whether regular eating habits would have an effect on anxiety, depression and stress. Lastly, to look into whether supplementation impacts depression, anxiety and stress symptoms. A survey was conducted and 347 responses were recorded. The Mini International Personality Item Pool (Mini-IPIP), Depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and an eating regularity, supplementation, diet adaptation questionnaires were developed for this study. Data was analysed on SPSS and correlation, regression and a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was run to observe any significant relationships. Hypothesis 1 and 2 were supported, whereas supplementation had no significant relationship with mental health.

The Association Between Diet and Mental Health

What we choose to put into our bodies has the ability to make changes to our mental health. Every individual has a certain diet that they adhere by and this refers to the type and variety of food that they choose to consume. Mental health refers to the way a person thinks, feels and behaves- it is related to psychological and emotional health, this includes depression and anxiety (Glasser, 2003). Depression is defined as a mood disorder that is distinguished by low mood that is recurrent, negative thoughts and actions, a tendency to withdraw from situations, and interferes with everyday life (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Anxiety is distinguished by more than one factor including nervousness, fear, anxiousness and constant worry impacting thoughts and emotions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This report will demonstrate a study that was conducted on the association between diet and mental health- in specific depression and anxiety and whether supplementation has an effect on mental health. It was hypothesized that there would be a negative relationship between diet quality and symptoms of depression and anxiety. It was also hypothesized that more irregular eating behaviors would be associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety. An investigation into the impact of supplementations was conducted to see if there would be any significant findings. This report will include a look into the literature associated with diet and mental health, a method section outlining the process of the study, the results and a discussion about the findings.

Quality and type of food consumed can determine mental health status. A systematic review was conducted to find out whether there was a relationship between diet quality and mental health in children and adolescents. The results showed that there was a significant cross-sectional relationship between unhealthy consumption of food and a decline in mental in children and adolescents (O’neil et al., 2014). Twelve epidemiological studies were looked into and seven of those studies were of high methodological quality, meaning that only seven of those studies were considered good research and well-designed. Similarly, evidence established from two studies conducted by Jacka, Rothon, Taylor, Berk and Stansfeld (2013) and Jacka et al. (2011) demonstrated that an unhealthy diet caused symptoms of depression. The study that was done in the United Kingdom in East London proposed that the results are consistent with other studies (Jacka, Rothon, Taylor, Berk, & Stansfeld, 2013).It is suggested that further intervention studies would need to consider and investigate the effect of avoiding common mental health disorders through changing an individual’s diet (Jacka et al., 2011). This could be because of previous methods that were used that did not allow for interventions in specific to be investigated. These studies demonstrate that if an individual changes the quality and type of food being consumed, there is a good chance of increasing better mental health.

Supplementation use has become very popular worldwide. Tarleton et al. (2017) found that consuming magnesium tablets has a vital role in helping with depression. The evidence suggests that magnesium is only considered effective for mild to moderate depression in adults and it is noted that its effects work rapidly (Tarleton, Littenberg, MacLean, Kennedy, & Daley, 2017). There is no need of supervision from a professional which makes it easier for an individual as the product can be purchased over the counter. Supplementation can be a possible treatment option for people that have depression.

An additional consideration of the Big Five Personality Traits: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness will be investigated (Zillig, Hemenover, & Dienstbier, 2002). A study looking at three eating surveys to see whether personality traits and eating habits are associated resulted in observations of openness and conscientiousness associated with other health-related aspects (Goldberg & Strycker, 2002).

The first aim of this research was to investigate the association between healthy and unhealthy diet and levels of anxiety, depression and stress while accounting for personality traits, secondly to investigate whether regular eating habits would have an effect on the levels of anxiety, depression and stress. Lastly, to look into whether taking  supplements impacts depression, anxiety and stress symptoms. It was conducted as a cross-sectional correlational study design to determine the association between diet, nutrition and supplementation on mental health.

Method

Participants

432 responses were submitted, 84 cases were removed after visual inspection, a further 3 were removed due to two being fake and one being underage (Qualtrics failed to detect this), leaving a total of 347 responses recorded in the final analysis (97%). Participants needed to be over the age of 18, are required to have basic English skills and are Australian residents. Recruitment was done through the use of social media (Facebook) and flyers were hung around La Trobe University that had a link on it directing to the online survey (see Appendix A). Recruitment also included in-person, which meant having research assistants tell people about the study and ask them whether they would like to participate. Participants were sampled from a wide range of occupations, age groups and educational levels. They had the option of giving their details at the end of the survey for the chance to win one of six $50 gift vouchers. An Ethics approval was completed- the approval number is: HEC18113- low risk study.

Materials

A Qualtrics survey database was used to administer and collect participant responses and data was put through using SPSS v.22 to analyse the data. Table 1 summarises the scales that were used within the study.

Table 1.

Summary Table of the scales used and their Descriptions and Reliability.