Association of Dietary Intake of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids with Depression in Korean Adults (P14-009-19)

Several epidemiological studies have suggested that polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have a preventive effect on depression, but these findings are inconsistent. This study was aimed to investigate the association of PUFA intake with depression among Korean adults based on the national survey data. Using data from the 2014–2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a total of 9201 adults (3719 men and 8482 women) aged ≥19 years were involved in this study. Dietary intakes of PUFAs including n-3 PUFA, n-6 PUFA, n-6/n-3 ratio, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were estimated by a 24-h dietary recall. The presence of depression was diagnosed with a validated Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale. The odds ratios (OR) for the presence of depression according to the quartile of PUFAs intakes were calculated using a multiple logistic regression model. The prevalence of depression among the participants was 6.35%.The mean intake of n-3 PUFA was 1.64 g/day for the study participants, which was higher in participants without depression (1.65 g/day) than those with depression (1.43 g/day). A higher intake of n-3 PUFA (both % energy and energy-adjusted intake) was associated with a decreased prevalence of depression (OR of the highest quartile vs lowest quartile of the % E from n-3 PUFA, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.44–0.87; P for trend = 0.0241 and OR of the highest quartile vs lowest quartile of energy-adjusted n-3 PUFA, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.46–0.86; P for trend = 0.0124). There was no significant sex difference between dietary n-3 PUFA and depression. However, the associations between the intakes of n-6 PUFA, n-6/n-3 ratio, EPA, and DHA and the prevalence of depression were not significant. Our findings suggest that a higher intake of dietary n-3 PUFA might be associated with a lower risk of depression in adults of Korean population. Thus, further studies are necessary to elucidate underlying mechanism of n-3 PUFA to prevent depression. This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (No. 21B20151213037).