Phillips CM, et al. – A cross-sectional analysis was performed to investigate relationships between the inflammatory potential of habitual diet and mental health outcomes in a sample of 2,047 adults (50.8% female). Regarding the development of novel nutritional psychiatry approaches to promote good mental health, these findings could be of clinical and public health significance, which suggested that a pro-inflammatory diet was correlated with adverse mental health.

• The researchers evaluated diet using a self-completed food frequency questionnaire from which dietary inflammatory index (DII) scores were determined.
• They assessed depressive symptoms, anxiety, and well-being using the CES-D, HADS-A and WHO-5 screening tools.

• Logistic regression analyses demonstrated that higher energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) scores, reflecting a more pro-inflammatory diet, were correlated with increased risk of depressive symptoms (odds ratios (OR) 1.70, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.23-2.35, p = 0.001) and anxiety (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.15-2.24, p = 0.006) and lower likelihood of well-being (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46-0.83, p = 0.001), comparing highest to lowest tertile of E-DII.
• The researchers noted associations only in women in gender-stratified analyses.
• As per the outcomes, women with the highest E-DII scores were at elevated risk of depressive symptoms (OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.49-3.51, p < 0.001) and anxiety (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.30-3.06, p = 0.002), while possibility of reporting good well-being was lower (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36-0.79, p = 0.002), relative to those with the lowest E-DII scores.