This literature review looks at 10
epidemiologic studies ,investigating whether there is a link between diet
and depression, among the adolescent population and critically evaluates them.
When researching for papers at first 20 papers were derived from various
scientific databases, for example PubMed and Science Direct. However 10 were
excluded due to them not specifically investigating, diet and depression among
adolescents. All 10 papers explored the relationship between diet and
depression, but they all used various methods to measure diet quality such as
cross sectional study and a longitudinal study. Crucial cofounding variables
were not often taken into account which decreases the accuracy of the
results. In spite of conflicting reports, there was evidence to show that there
is a link between healthy foods and good mental health. Whereas unhealthy food
caused an increase in experiencing depressive symptoms.
Diet is the food and beverage that an individual consumes and
mental health is ones emotional, social and psychological wellbeing(Plieger et
al, 2015). Depression is one of the many types of mental health disorders,
depression negatively effects the way one feels, thinks and acts(Plieger et al,
2015). In the United Kingdom(UK), 20% of adolescents may experience depressive
symptoms in a year, and it is increasing at an accelerated rate(World Health
Organisation, 2017). As shown in figure 1 the percentage of teens having a
major depressive episode is increasing
with age. Figure 1: This
figure shows that as an adolescent becomes older, the percentage of them having
a major depressive disorder also increases
(Thapar et al, 2012).
Suicide
has been rated as the second highest cause of death among adolescents due to
suffering from depression(Patel et al,2007).Adolescents usually experience
depressive symptoms for a long period, and their risk of a relapse is immense(Milin
et al,2003). Numerous studies have
concluded that the average length of a
depressive episode ranges from 6-9 months. The longer the period of an episode,
can result in an increase chance of it happening again(Milin et al,2003). Nevertheless, a
