Dietary patterns in patients with depression/anxiety symptoms

Objective: To compare the eating characteristic between patients with depression/anxiety symptoms and normal coutrols.Methods: Altogether 85 out-patients from department of internal neurology of Beijing Anzhen Hospital whose scores of the Hamilton Depression Scale(HAMD) ≥17 and/or Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA) ≥14 were selected as the case group.And 82 healthy adults whose HAMD and HAMA grades were less than 7 point were selected as the control group.Quantitative frequency method was used to investigate the dietary patterns in the two groups.The data of 2002 national survey of citizen diet were used as reference.And the concentrations of blood glucose,lipid,total protein,and albumin were determined.Results:There were no significant difference between the two groups in the intake of carbohydrate(from staple foods),vegetables and fruits.However,the intake of high quality protein from meat,egg,milk and bean was significantly lower in case group than in control group(P0.01).The percentage of daily intake of high quality protein below 20g/d in case group was higher than in control group(72.9% vs.17.1%,P0.01).Comparing with the data of national survey,the high quality protein intake in case group and control group were 51.5% and 108% of national average level respectively.And the intake of animal protein from livestock,poultry and seafood in case group control and group were 25.7% and 82.6% of the national average level.Furthermore,the intake of cholesterol in case group was significantly lower than in control group(P0.01).The cholesterol intake in case group was 61.3% of national average level,and 140.5% in control group.When the data of males and females were analyzed separately,the result was similar to the above.Correlation analysis showed that high quality protein and cholesterol were not correlated with HAMD and HAMA scores.There were no significant differences between tow groups in the levels of blood glucose and serum lipid and serum protein(Ps 0.05).Conclusion: It suggests the dietary structure of patients with depression and anxiety status may be not reasonable,which is characterized by lower intake of high quality protein and cholesterol than daily requirement.