DASS-21.Citation43 Dietary quality was categorized as “good/healthy” if HEI scores were > 80, and as “needs improvement or unhealthy” if scores were < 79. The reference group was “good/healthy diet,” and results showed that “needs improvement or unhealthy diet” significantly increased odds of stress (OR = 1.7, 95% CI [1.23, 2.35]), but not anxiety (OR =1.2, 95% CI [0.82, 1.81])

For example, two studiesCitation34,Citation37 showed that high dietary quality was associated with high anxiety and stress.

Seven studies were included in the analysis, and results showed five studies having small to moderate significant positive associations between dietary quality and academic achievement.

The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) suggests analyzing dietary patterns rather than looking at singular nutrients to gain information about overall dietary quality.Citation52 This new approach released in the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans alludes to transitioning away from proxy questions about singular foods or nutrients that might limit the depth of information gained from the questions being asked.

urther, results were limited even more when exclusion criteria eliminated studies that focused on a specific nutrient rather than overall dietary quality or did not measure dietary quality using an index.

Of the two studies that determined overall dietary quality, as measured by the Dietary Quality Index-International (DQI-I) and Australian Recommended Food Score, and academic performance as measured by GPA, both showed modest correlations.

Results indicated that Modified DQI scores, characterized as adequate or inadequate, were not associated with Total Stress Level Perception scores

No significant differences in the means were found in depression and anxiety HEI scores.

Four studies examined associations between overall dietary quality, as measured by adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, and stress, anxiety, and/or depression. Carlos and colleagues used the KIDMED index to measure overall dietary quality and its associations with anxiety as both a trait and a state, measured by the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).Citation34 Results showed that high KIDMED scores were weakly and positively correlated with high trait anxiety

Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and teenagers (KIDMED) test, Mediterranean Diet Serving Score (MDSS), Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), Dietary Quality Index (DQI), Healthy Eating Index (HEI), Canadian Health Eating Index (HEI-C), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score (DASH score), Dietary Quality Index- International (DQI-I), and Australian Recommended Food Score (ARFS).

This research provides partial evidence that dietary habits are relatedto aspects of mental health among college students.

Enjoying food may reflect a mindful, pleasurable relationship witheating, which aligns with greater psychological resilience andpositive affec

“Enjoyment of food” stood out as the onlyconsistent and significant predictor negatively associated withdepression and positively linked with well-being indicating thatstudents who derive pleasure from eating tend to have betterpsychological health

Findings revealed a moderate positivecorrelation, r = 0.291, p < 0.01, indicating that students experiencingelevated stages of stress inclined to report more irregular eating

The regression model was statisticallysignificant, F (4,186) = 2.697, p = 0.032, considering approximately5.5% of the variance in depression scores (R² = 0.055). Among thepredictors, only 'Enjoyment of Food' emerged as a statisticallysignificant factor (B = -2.583, p = 0.001). The hypothesis waspartially accepted

Enjoyment of Food was found to be a strongpositive indicator of mental well-being (B = 2.224, p = .002),suggesting that the greater enjoyment of food is associated withenhanced mental well-being.

As indicated in Table 1, Eating Behaviour Predicting Depression:posits a substantial positive correlation between eating behaviourand depression in college students to evaluate,

Standardized printed questionnaires were administered to theparticipants in a quiet classroom setting along with a consent form.These included the Adult Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (AEBQ;Hunot et al., 2016); the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II;Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996); the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10;Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983); and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS; Tennant et al.,2007).

2016) is a 35-item self-report questionnaire tailored to evaluate abroad range of dietary traits in the adult population. It includes eightsubscales: food responsiveness, emotional overeating, enjoyment offood, satiety responsiveness, emotional undereating, food fussiness,slowness in eating, and hunger (AEBQ; Hunot et al., 2016). Eachitem is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (stronglydisagree) to 5 (strongly agree) (Likert,1932), allowing for nuancedinsights into individual eating behaviours.

The research involved young adults between 18 to 24 years old fromboth genders and socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, in whichparticipants were approached depending on their accessibility andreadiness to engage.

Additionally, four studies found that consuming an unhealthy diet significantly enhanced depression (P < 0.05), and used consumption of energy-dense food (such as sweets, snacks, and fast foods) and skipping meals to identify an unhealthy diet

The college years are marked as a crucial development phase that is often associated with distinct psychological challenges and is the most common peak period for the first onset of mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression

The effects of fruit and vegetables on depression were investigated in five other cross-sectional studies.Citation13,Citation38,Citation41,Citation43,Citation47 Among them, one study showed evidence that more fruit and vegetable consumption significantly reduced (P < 0.05) depressive symptoms

A case-control study evidenced that the diet of case group (participants with depression) contained significantly lower (P < 0.05) amount of vitamin A, β carotene, folic acid, fiber, and protein rich food (such as meat, fish, egg, beans more than two times a day)

Counseling in a university setting is the most common intervention found to improve mental health among college students.Citation4,Citation8,Citation59 Nutrition interventions that target college or university students are more successful in improving healthy lifestyle behavior.

Findings from a study conducted in Turkey found an association between high DII scores (reflecting the pro-inflammatory potential of diet) and increased odds of incidence of depressive symptoms (OR= 2.90, 95% CI = 1.51–5.98).Citation3

In addition to the roles of nutrients on brain function, diet also impacts gut microbiota.Citation1,Citation61 Maintaining a healthy microbiota to regulate the function of serotonin metabolism is important in response to manage stress, anxiety, and depression

A poor or unhealthy diet has low nutrient density and lacks many essential nutrients thus impacting mental health (e.g., vitamin B12 deficiency causes fatigue, depression, and poor memory).Citation1,Citation60

Depression and anxiety have negative impacts on academic performance,Citation19 and lead to decreased social function such as establishing peer relationships, maintaining family relationships, and building a career

Many factors such as academic stress, substance use, easy access to energy-dense foods, and internet addiction promote poor dietary intake behavior in college students.Citation7,Citation8 Thus, college students are at greater risk of making unhealthy food choices

Our results show a consistent association between an inflammatory diet (measured by the DII) and incident depressive outcomes, which supports the hypothesis that avoiding pro-inflammatory foods in favor to anti-inflammatory diet might contribute to prevent incidence of depression and depressive symptoms.

It is common for large observational studies to collect self-reported dietary data with imperfect instruments such as food frequency questionnaires

there was heterogeneity across studies: most used questionnaires, in particular the CES-D, although differing versions, and some questionnaires were only used in a single study (MFQ [25], BDI [56]). Only a minority of studies examined clinical depression [48, 58, 67, 71, 75, 79], assessed by clinical interview or self-reported physician diagnosis, complemented by the use of anti-depressants.

Systemic inflammation can affect the brain by active transport of cytokines through the brain endothelium or activation of vagal fibers, and also plays a role in the regulation of emotions through mechanisms involving neurotransmitters including serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, and glutamate

The three longitudinal studies [48, 51, 55] show a lower risk of incident depression in the high diet score category compared to low (0.76; 95% CI: 0.57, 1.02), but this association is only borderline significant at the conventional level

The combined estimate from four longitudinal studies [31, 45, 46, 48] shows that people in the highest category of adherence to a Mediterranean diet have lower odds/risk of incident depressive outcomes, with an overall estimate of 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.55, 0.82 compared to people with lowest adherence

The neurological pathways potentially affecting depression risk that can be modulated by nutritional intake are related to inflammation, oxidative stress, neuroplasticity, mitochondrial function, and the gut microbiome

the dietary intake of specific nutrients such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, B vitamins, zinc, and magnesium have been implicated in brain function

identifying modifiable risk factors to guide intervention strategies to prevent mood disorders and decrease their severity would appear to have value.

Depression, characterized by low mood, loss of interest or pleasure in life, and disturbed sleep or appetite, affects over 300 million people globally [1], which represents a global prevalence of 7% for women and 4% for men [2].

The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize the link between diet quality, measured using a range of predefined indices, and depressive outcomes.

Finally, first-generation college students are often viewed from a deficit perspective – that they lack certain education-specific qualitiesCitation101 – and thus the assets of first-generation college students (e.g., persistence, resilience, taking responsibility, emphasis on family and community) are overlooked.

Relatedly, continuing-generation college students may report more mental health concerns due to a greater familiarity with “therapy culture” (i.e. emphasis on emotions and their treatment).Citation98

Reducing mental health concerns surrounding finances is an area that counseling staff could explicitly address with first-generation college students.

Infusing interdependent cultural norms into college campuses (e.g. group work, collaboration, affinity groups, including families into programs) may help improve the mental health of first-generation college students.

Because the first-generation college student population overlaps with a variety of other disadvantaged identities (e.g. female, low-income, older, Black and Hispanic), and that these identities also tend to be associated with higher interdependence, it is difficult to separate out the specific impact of first-generation college student status on mental health from a variety of other factors that also impact mental health (e.g., racism, sexism).

Therefore the findings may not be generalizable to the wider first-generation college student population

he COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges, especially for first-generation college students in terms of financial hardships, food and housing insecurity. First-generation college students also experienced an especially sharp rise in mental health disorders.

resilience may buffer them against mental health concerns.Citation25,Citation92 An emphasis on the need for resiliency may also lessen the reporting of mental health struggles

It was especially surprising that there tended to be no significant differences between first- and continuing-generation students when mental health was assessed generally.

when academic and social contexts conflicted with interdependence, first-generation college students tended to experience heightened mental health concerns

It is neces-sary to acknowledge the social cognitive theory,

The selected studies shared 2 limitations. First, althoughthere are both undergraduate and graduate students in high-er education, studies of college students’ PA focused pri-marily on undergraduate students. It still remains unclearwhy researchers have not widely studied graduate students’PA behaviors.

noted in Healthy People 2010,1 an overwhelmingbody of literature suggests that participation inphysical activity (PA) on a regular basis is 1 of theprimary factors in maintaining sound health in modern soci-ety. However, evidence shows that the contemporary designof working and living environments has significantlyreduced demand for PA.