Healthy eating is considered a pillar for healthy mind and body. In particular, a balanced diet is associated, among other things, with a lower probability of developing depression. Does it also apply later in life, and does it apply equally to men and women? These are the questions that some researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Technologies of the Cnr (Cnr-Itb) have tried to answer, in collaboration with the IRCCS Casimiro Mondino National Neurological Institute Foundation of Pavia, discovering that gender differences could go much further beyond what was previously believed. To the point of understanding, in fact, even the effects of food on mental health.
Diet and depression: the study
“In this work, for the first time advanced age groups were considered and the results for biological sex were separated. This lays promising foundations for future studies on gender medicine”, Federica Prinelli, researcher in epidemiology, explains to Salute and among the authors of the work published in the British Journal of Nutrition. Scientists have in fact studied the association between the Mediterranean diet and changes in mood in a group of people over 65 years of age. They did this within the ‘NutBrain’ study (acronym for Nutrition, gUT microbiota, and Brain AgING), which from 2019 to 2023 recruited approximately 800 elderly people aged between 65 and 97 years residing in Lombardy. The participants answered some questionnaires on their food consumption, lifestyle and also on their socioeconomic conditions. Depressive symptoms were also recorded by investigating the subject’s feelings and behaviors in the week preceding the interview (resulting, as in the general population, to be greater in women than in men).
Breast cancer, those who follow the Mediterranean diet have 40% less risk of falling ill again by Tiziana Moriconi 10 May 2024
Males and females are also different when it comes to diet
The researchers observed that people who achieved higher Mediterranean diet adherence scores were 54.6% less likely to have depressive symptoms. But that is not all. The most interesting data was another: women, unlike men, when they adhere to the Mediterranean diet are less likely to experience depressive symptoms. A result perhaps attributable to gender medicine, suggests Prinelli: “Women respond differently to drug treatments, vaccines and very probably also to other factors, such as diet”.
Fresh fish and olive oil, health allies
But among everything we eat, is there something that could have a more beneficial role for health than anything else? By analyzing the association between individual foods and depressive symptoms, the scientists found that the consumption of fresh fish (two portions or more per week) corresponded to a lower probability of developing depressive symptoms. In particular, the association was strong especially for crustaceans and molluscs (prawns, scampi, mussels and clams) but not for canned tuna. Even an increase in the ratio between monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids – that is, between ‘good fats’ of plant origin compared to fats generally of animal origin – led to the same effect in women and not in men. Researchers go out of their way to hypothesize how fish and unsaturated fatty acids (or rather the ratio between monounsaturated fats and saturated fats) could promote better mental health. For example, we read in the paper “they could increase the fluidity of brain membranes, facilitating the work of neurotransmitters and promoting better mental health. However, this effect was only observed in women and not in men.” Perhaps for hormonal reasons or related to vitamin D deficiency and its links to mental health, the authors hypothesize.
Rheumatological diseases: fruit, vegetables and sport improve patients’ health by Dario Rubino 22 November 2023
This study represents a cross-section of the population but others will be needed in which to follow the population over time, to better understand the close interaction between diet, microbiota and brain, Prinelli continues: “This could help us explain the mechanisms through which our eating styles life can accelerate or slow down brain aging processes. Furthermore, to arrive at true gender medicine it is necessary to start with research, and no longer study populations as a single large identical sample, but take biological differences into account.”