Background: Depression is prevalent in the elderly and it has been shown to be highly associated with diet and nutrition. Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate the association and the possible causal role of food consumption with the risk of depression in older Taiwanese. Methods: The study analyzed the 1999 and 2003 data of the “Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan” conducted by the Bureau of Health Promotion of DOH of Taiwan. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data of 2627 elderly aged 65 years or over were analyzed with univariate and multivariate regression analyses to determine the significance of association between the consumption frequencies of each food group with depression scores. Results: Univariate analysis of cross-sectional data showed that consumption frequencies of all food categories were associated with lower risk of depression whereas multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that only higher consumption frequencies of fruit & vegetable, grains and tea were significantly associated. Analysis of the longitudinal data showed that consumption frequency of fruit & vegetable had the strongest impact on the risk of depression, followed by tea and grains. Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that diet and nutrition not only is associated with the risk of depression, it may play a causal role. However, confirmation of such a relationship awaits further interventional studies. These results also suggest a possible beneficial effect of encouraging the elderly to increase fruit and vegetable consumptions to reduce the risk of depression.
