Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine mediation by (i) diet quality and (ii) diet quantity in the associations of mindful eating domains with 3-year change in depressive symptoms.
DESIGN: Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale at baseline and 3-year follow-up. Four mindful eating domains (Focused Eating; Eating in response to Hunger and Satiety Cues; Eating with Awareness; Eating without Distraction) were measured with the Mindful Eating Behavior Scale. Food intake was measured with a 238-item FFQ. Diet quality was defined as the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS). Diet quantity was defined as total energy intake (kcal/d; 1 kcal = 4·184 kJ). Mediation analyses with percentile-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals were conducted to calculate indirect effects.
SETTING: Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam.
PARTICIPANTS: Adults aged 55 years or above (n 929).
RESULTS: Diet quality (MDS) did not mediate associations of any of the four mindful eating domains with change in depressive symptoms. In contrast, total energy intake did mediate the associations with change in depressive symptoms for the mindful eating domains Eating with Awareness (indirect effects fully adjusted models: B = -0·014, 95 % CI -0·037, -0·002) and Eating without Distraction (B = -0·013, 95 % CI -0·033, -0·001), but not for the other two domains. Post hoc multiple mediation analyses showed similar results.
CONCLUSIONS: Higher scores on two mindful eating domains were associated with a decrease in depressive symptoms through lower total energy intake. Diet quantity, but not diet quality, could be a possible underlying mechanism in the associations between mindful eating and change in depressive symptoms.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1532-1542 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Public Health Nutrition |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| Early online date | 20 Jan 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2020 |
Funding
Financial support: This work was supported by the European Union FP7 MooDFOOD Project \u2018Multi-country cOllaborative project on the rOle of Diet, FOod-related behaviour, and Obesity in the prevention of Depression\u2019 (grant agreement number 613598). The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam is supported by a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports, Directorate of Long-Term Care. The data collection in 2012\u20132013 was financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in the framework of the project \u2018New Cohorts of young old in the 21st century\u2019 (file number 480-10-014). The funding agencies had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Authorship: L.H.H.W., M.V., I.A.B. and T.v.S. designed the study. L.H.H.W. and L.E.M.E. collected the data. L.H.H.W. wrote the first draft with contributions from M.V., I.A.B. and T.v.S. L.H.H.W. conducted the statistical analyses. All authors reviewed and commented on subsequent drafts of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version. Ethics of human subject participation: This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects in LASA were approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam. All participants provided written informed consent.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research | |
| European Union FP7 | |
| Netherlands Ministry of Health Welfare and Sports, Directorate of Long-Term Care | |
| European Commission | 613598 |
| Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | 480-10-014 |
Keywords
- Depression
- Energy intake
- Food intake
- Mediterranean Diet Score
- Mindful eating