Mental health status and dietary intake among California adults: a population-based survey

Abstract

California Health Interview Survey (2005–2015) data were used to examine the association between dietary intake frequencies and mental health – Kessler-6 scores categorised as no/low (NLPD), moderate (MPD) or serious psychological distress (SPD). The 245,891 surveys represented 27.7 million adults annually, with 13.2% having MPD and 3.7% SPD. Survey-adjusted regression adjusting for gender, age, race, education, poverty, marital status, BMI, geography and year found MPD and SPD associated with lower consumption of fruits (adjusted odds ratio 0.79 and 0.65, respectively), vegetables (AOR 0.81 and 0.68), and increased consumption of French fries (AOR 1.24, 1.30), fast food (AOR 1.32, 1.27), soda (AOR 1.23, 1.26) and variance-adjusted daily teaspoons of sugar (coefficients 3.05, 4.21), all p-values less than 0.001. In this large population-based sample, moderate and SPD were independently associated with unhealthy diet. Targeted public health interventions could focus on young adults and those with less than 12 years of education.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Food consumption frequency
• soft drinks
• sugar
• fruits and vegetables intake
• food

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this work was presented at the Seventh International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition in Loma Linda, California, 26 February 2018.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.