The effect of Mediterranean Diet instructions on depression, anxiety, stress, and anthropometric indices: A randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial

• Published in: Preventive medicine reports 2023-12, Vol.36, p.102469-102469, Article 102469
• Main Authors: Radkhah, Nima, Rasouli, Ahmadreza, Majnouni, Amin, Eskandari, Eslam, Parastouei, Karim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Depression; Mediterranean diet; Mental disorders; Obesity; Regular article; Stress
• ISSN: 2211-3355; 2211-3355
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102469

Evidence suggests that adopting a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean Diet (MD), can positively affect mental health. To further explore this, a study was conducted to determine the impact of MD instruction over 12 weeks on depression, anxiety, stress, and anthropometric indices. The study is a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial with sixty participants who reported stress, anxiety, and depression conducted in Tabriz, Iran (2022-2023). They were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n=30), which received MD instruction, or the control group (n=30), which received standard healthy nutrition education. Both groups were asked to follow their respective nutrition education plans for 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, depression, anxiety, and stress levels were measured using the DASS-21 questionnaire, and anthropometric indices were assessed. Initially, the unadjusted DASS-21 scores for depression, anxiety, and stress did not show significant differences between the two groups. However, after adjusting for baseline variables (model 2), all scores decreased significantly (the P-value for all scores was