Association of the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) with depression, stress and anxiety among Iranian military personnel.

INTRODUCTION: Psychological disorders have a major role in the incidence of chronic diseases and may result in reductions in the cost-effectiveness of the Armed Forces. Previous civilian studies have shown a protective association between healthy eating guidelines and mental disorders, but evidence to support this for a military population is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the association of Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI-2010) with depression, stress and anxiety among Iranian military personnel.
METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 246 male Army soldiers. Stress, anxiety, depression and dietary intakes were assessed. The association between variables was determined using multivariate logistic regression.
RESULTS: The prevalence of depression, stress and anxiety in study participants was 15.9%, 10.6% and 27.2% respectively. Participants with the highest adherence to the AHEI-2010 had an 80% lower odds of depression than those with the lowest adherence (OR: 0.20; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.78). Such an association was also found between adherences to the AHEI-2010 and anxiety (OR: 0.28; 95% CI 0.05 to 0.95). No significant association between adherence to the AHEI-2010 and stress was found.
CONCLUSION: An inverse association between adherence to the AHEI-2010 and odds of depression and anxiety was found. Further studies are required to clarify this relationship. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.