title: No association between dietary patterns and depressive symptoms among a community-dwelling population in Japan.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Studies of the associations between diet and depression have primarily focused on single nutrients or foods. Recently, dietary patterns representing a combination of foods have attracted more interest than individual nutrient. The objective of this study was to examine the association between dietary patterns and depressive symptoms among a community-dwelling population in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the association between dietary patterns and the risk of depression among 791 Japanese community-dwelling individuals. Diet was assessed with a validated brief-type self-administered diet history questionnaire (BDHQ). Dietary patterns from 52 predefined food groups [energy-adjusted food (g/d)] were extracted by principal component analysis. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) with a cut-off point of 16 was used to assess the prevalence of depression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 97 subjects (12.3%) were classified as having depression. Four dietary patterns were identified: "Healthy", "Western", "Bread and confectionery", and "Alcohol and accompanying" dietary patterns. After adjusting for potential confounders, the dietary patterns were not related to the risk of depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study failed to find associations between dietary patterns and the risk of depression. However, the interpretation of our results was hampered by the lack of certain data, including employment physical activity and longitudinal observations. Potential associations between dietary patterns and depressive symptoms were not completely ruled out. Future research exploring dietary patterns and depressive symptoms is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Japan. nsuga3@yahoo.co.jp.
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yasui-Furukori
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuchimine
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaneda
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuruga
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwane
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.forename: Ippei
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Sunao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko