An Exploratory Analysis of Dietary Components in Relation to Symptoms of Anxiety

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Determine reliability of GAD-7 and MASQ in the assessment of symptoms of anxiety and dietary correlates. Methods Cross-sectional, mixed methods design of adult men and women greater than 18 years of age consented; no exclusion criteria (N = 275) entitled, “Food Mood Project (FMP). Data collection occurred December 5, 2015 to August 3, 2016. The project contains two parts: Part 1: electronic demographic assessment (e.g., education, age, gender, marital status, military affiliation, and occupation), completion of five mobile formatted, electronic validated questionnaires (e.g., GAD-7, MASQ, EDE-Q, Zung, and GRIT), and 3-day electronic dietary food and beverage record with self-reported emotional evaluation. Participants who fully completed part 1 [ALL questionnaires and 3-day food record with subjective affect appraisal pre-, during, post- each feeding episode were invited to participate in part 2 (N = 135). Part 2: 90-minunte in-person medical and nutritional interview (N = 106) by author exploring personal and familial medical history, physical activity trends, personal beliefs about food, dieting history, 24-hour dietary recall, sleep hygiene (PSQI), and spiritual health (i.e., SWB), as well as, assessing cognitive set-shifting via trail making test (TMT). Statistical consultation with Deakin University (Australia) and University of California, Berkeley (United States) utilizing SPSS, R, and Stata for linear regression, ANOVA, and PCA, and t-tests for dietary data [manually analyzed using NDSR]; a > 0.05. Results Coefficient of reliability for GAD-7 is 0.869 and Total MASQ is 0.822 as a practical application assessment of symptoms of anxiety. Linear regression examining macronutrient content and MASQ scores for subset of completed Part 1 data (n = 31) reveals mean total carbohydrates by participants was 192.86 gm daily and significantly correlated with total MASQ score (R2 = 0.023; P = 0.027). Conclusions GAD-7 and MASQ have excellent reliability for assessing symptoms of anxiety. Preliminary results notes carbohydrate variability is correlated with reported symptoms of anxiety. Funding Sources Academic funding through University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Nutritional Sciences Vision 20/20 Award (2014), Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2015), and California Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2017).