The Associations among Unhealthy Eating Habits, Bad Eating Experiences and Depression in Taiwanese Youths

Abstract

Objectives: Depression is prevalent in children and adolescents. We investigated whether unhealthy eating habits and eating preferences are associated with depression in Taiwanese youth. Methods: 549 students aged 10-13 years were enrolled from elementary and junior high schools in Taiwan. Using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, three groups of depression were defined: depression (a score＞21), moderate depression (a score between 15-21) and normal (a score＜15) groups. We assessed irregular meal time, bad eating experiences, unhealthy eating habits and dietary preferences as their eating behaviors. Chi-square or ANOVA was used for group comparisons. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between eating behaviors and depression. Results: Unhealthy eating habits were common, ranged from 47.6% (midnight snack eating) to 70.5% (sugared beverages drinking). Taiwanese youth had on average 3.1 times per week of having irregular meal time. Depression group (N=71, 14.4%) reported to have more irregular eating meal time (p=0.005), unhealthy eating habits (p＜0.05 except for snack eating and sugar beverages drinking), and bad eating experiences to influence appetites (p＜0.05 except for appetite influenced by snack) than moderate depression (N=77, 14.6%) and normal (N=379, 71.9%) groups. The risk of depression or moderate depression increased with higher numbers of unhealthy eating habits (OR_(adj) ranged from 2.17-6.33) and bad eating experiences to influence appetites (OR_(adj) ranged from 1.79-16.5), with the irregular eating behavior subgroup showed a trend for a higher risk on depression. Additionally, students who had less preference for vegetables tended to be more depressed (p= 0.018). Conclusions: Commonly observed unhealthy eating behaviors are associated with higher risk of depression in youths. Interventions toward healthy eating behaviors could be considered as potential promoting strategies to reduce the burden of depression among children and adolescents.