Association between the Japanese-style diet and low prevalence of depressive symptoms: Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study.

Abstract

Aim: The Japanese diet, rich in fish, soy products, and green tea, is associated with better mental health. However, associations between Japanese dietary patterns and depressive symptoms remain inconsistent, with limited research on predefined patterns. This study developed scores for traditional and modified Japanese diets to explore their cross-sectional associations with depressive symptoms in a large working population.

Methods: As part of the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study, we conducted a survey between 2018 and 2021. Diet was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Scores were developed for the traditional Japanese diet (9 items: white rice, miso soup, soy products, cooked vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, fish, salty foods, green tea) and its modified version (11 items: whole or minimally processed rice instead of white rice, reverse scoring for salty foods, and adding fruits, raw vegetables, dairy products). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 11-item Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (cutoff ≥9). Multilevel Poisson regression with robust variance estimated prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for confounders and accounting for study site as a random effect.

Results: Among 12,499 participants (76.8% participation), 30.9% reported depressive symptoms. The PRs of depressive symptoms across quartiles of the traditional Japanese diet score were 1.00 (reference), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.88-0.99), 0.91 (95% CI, 0.85-0.98), and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.80-0.86), and those for the modified version were 1.00 (reference), 0.94 (95% CI, 0.89-0.98), 0.83 (95% CI, 0.80-0.87), and 0.80 (95% CI, 0.76-0.83).

Conclusion: Close adherence to the traditional and modified Japanese diet score is associated with fewer depressive symptoms among the working population.