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High Beef Intake Could Reduce Risk of MDD, Study Suggests
High beef intake could reduce the likelihood of major depressive disorder (MDD), while non-oily fish intake—such as cod, tilapia, or other less-fatty fish—might increase risk of MDD, according to study results published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.
“Identification of protective dietary habits for MDD is crucial for primary prevention; however, interpretation of the evidence of causality from our study needs to be done cautiously,” researchers wrote in the study.
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“To our knowledge, this study is the most comprehensive [Mendelian randomization (MR)] study to date to evaluate the causal role of dietary habits on the risk of MDD,” researchers noted. “We leveraged summary statistics from large-scale [genome-wide association studies] meta-analysis to increase statistical power. In addition, sensitivity analyses found no substantial difference in the results from those of the main analysis, thereby indicating that our findings are robust.”
Researchers collected statistics for dietary habits from UK Biobank (n=449,210) and MDD information from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (n=142,646) then used a weighted median method to synthesize MR estimates across genetic instruments. Weighted median results were then compared with results from the inverse-variance weighted, the weighted mode, and Mendelian Randomization Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO).
Researchers found moderate evidence to support beef intake’s protective effect on MDD. Weak, but detectable, evidence showed cereal intake has a similar protective effect while non-oily fish intake may increase risk of MDD.
“We have stressed the need for further investigation to confirm and generalize our findings… Non-zero causal estimates may imply the existence of potential causal relationships but cannot provide accurate effect size estimation nor demonstrate a dose-response relationship,” researchers concluded.
