Elsevier

Physiology & Behavior

Volume 92, Issue 4, 23 November 2007, Pages 748-754
Physiology & Behavior

Perceived stress, depression and food consumption frequency in the college students of China seven cities

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.05.068Get rights and content

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the association between perceived stress, depression and food consumption frequency. A self-administered questionnaire that included the perceived stress scale, the depression scale and dietary intake was used in the baseline survey of a cohort study of 2579 local college students over 7 cities in China. Gender and city differences were found in perceived stress scores and depression scores. There were also significant differences among diverse smoking levels and among perceived weight categories in perceived stress and depression scores. Stepwise logistic regression models found that frequency of consumption of fresh fruit, ready-to-eat food and snack food had apparently independent effects on perceived stress, whereas the intake level of fresh fruit, ready-to-eat food and fast food was significantly associated with depression. The link between food consumption frequency, perceived stress and depression suggests that diet intervention may be considered a mediate strategy integrated in psychology prevention program among normal population of the college.

Introduction

People's eating habits and food choices are not simply the result of class, culture, media, gender or hormones, but are also the outcome of individual intention and agency [1]. Food consumption pattern of human being reflects complex interrelations and interactions among the individual, the culture and the society in which people live. Individual factors include age, education, and psychological characteristics [2]. There is growing evidence that food consumption has an influence on how we feel [3]. The effect of carbohydrate meal on mood is most frequently reported in this field. Some psychological researches have showed that carbohydrate intake is associated with improved mood [4], [5], [6]. Low carbohydrate/high protein breakfast for 3 weeks resulted in reports of increased anger [7]. But some studies revealed that dietary composition had no effect on mood and behavior [8]. Conflicting findings have aroused increasing interest among different domains in the past two decades.

The influence of diet on stress is an attractive subject in health-related behavior research. People use food not only for nourishment, but also to cope with stress and tension [2], [9]. In health psychology literature, food choice was considered a tool or deliberate strategy to modify temperament and mood [10]. Some investigators have found that stress induced over-eating. Some have observed higher energy and fat intake under stressful situations [11], [12], [13], [14]. However, other studies showed no differences in intake by comparing the periods of high and low life stress [15], [16], [17].

Wurtman RJ and Wurtman JJ developed the most quoted hypothesis that carbohydrate could relieve depression [18]. When those suffering with carbohydrate craving obesity were asked why they snacked most on carbohydrate-rich foods, the reason was more likely to be that these foods made them feel calmer or more clearheaded, rather than satisfying hunger. The weight-related studies found that obese individuals increased their food intakes in response to depression and other negative emotions [19], [20]. But recent study on depressive symptoms and adolescent eating found that total caloric intake and snaking frequency were not significantly associated with depressed mood [21].

The results of negative mood on food intake are more difficult to interpret because of the conflicting findings in the mood and food consumption. It remains unclear whether the consumption of food changes in negative mood situations or whether more or less intake of some food leads to unpleasant emotion.

In these studies, the relationship between stress and carbohydrate intake or the relationship between depression and eating disorder were more commonly reported respectively. Moreover, most of these researches were conducted with clinical or subclinical populations [22], [23], [24]. Less is known about stress or depression and frequency consumption of different food groups in nonclinical settings, especially among college students. We were interested in which categories of food contribute to stress and depression and how closely was the food consumption frequency correlated with the two negative moods among Chinese college students.

The current study was set up to assess associations between perceived stress, depression and food consumption frequency in the college students of China seven cities. We used cross-sectional data from China Seven City Study baseline survey to evaluate the distribution of consumption frequency of ten main food groups, measure perceived stress and depression symptom with gender, city and grade and test the hypothesis that the college students with higher stress or depression would have higher consumption frequencies for carbohydrate-rich or/and energy-rich food.

Section snippets

Procedure and sample

The study was conducted in seven cities of China: Shenyang and Harbin in the northeast, Qingdao in east coastal area, Hangzhou in the southeast, Wuhan in the center, Kunming in the southwest and Chengdu in the west-central China. All these are capital cities of China provinces except Qingdao. Collectively these cities represent the northern and southern cultures of China, the economically developed coastal region and the developing interior regions of the country. The survey was approved by the

Results

The characteristics of the study population were shown in Table 1. 42.1% of the sample was female and 57.9% were male. The average age of the subjects was 20.4 years. The city distribution of the college students is 10.3% for Chengdu, 8.5% for Hangzhou, 20.9% for Shenyang, 13.8% for Wuhan, 15.2% for Harbin, 12.4% for Kunming and 19.0 for Qingdao respectively.

Table 2 showed the perceived stress, depression scores with gender, city, grade, smoking, alcohol use and food intake level. Gender and

Discussion

In this present study, frequency consumption of fresh fruit was inversely and significantly correlated with perceived stress, whereas the intake of ready-to-eat food and snack food each revealed a positive correlation. Similarly, a significant inverse correlation was found between fresh fruit and depression symptoms while positive and significant correlation was observed between ready-to-eat food or fast food consumption and depression.

It is widely accepted that the eating behavior in humans

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the University of Southern California Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center (TTURC), funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant #1 P50 CA84735-01), and the Sidney R. Garfield Endowment. The authors thank the China Seven Cities Study (CSCS) directors and project staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the cities of Chengdu, Hangzhou, Harbin, Qingdao, Shenyang, and Wuhan and the Institute for Health Education in Kunming, China, for

References (46)

  • D.A. Zellner et al.

    Food selection changes under stress

    Physiol Behav

    (2006)
  • J. Kandiah et al.

    Stress influences appetite and comfort food preferences in college women

    Nutr Res

    (2006)
  • E.S. Paykel

    Depression and appetite

    J Psychosom Res.

    (1977)
  • R. Markus et al.

    Effects of food on cortisol and mood in vulnerable subjects under controllable and uncontrollable stress

    Physiol Behav

    (2000)
  • M.L. Axelson

    The impact of culture on food-related behavior

    Ann Rev Nutr

    (1986)
  • D. Benton et al.

    The effects of nutrients on mood

    Public Health Nutr

    (1999)
  • C. Prasad

    Food, mood and health: a neurobiologic outlook

    Br J Med Bio Res

    (1998)
  • B. Spring et al.

    Carbohydrates, tryptophan, and behavior: a methodological review

    Psychol Bull

    (1987)
  • J. Wardlea et al.

    Stress, dietary restraint and food intake

    J Psychosom Res

    (2000)
  • S. Folkman et al.

    An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample

    J health Soc Behav

    (1980)
  • B.S. McCann et al.

    Changes in plasma lipids & dietary intake accompanying shifts in perceived workload & stress

    Psychosom Med

    (1990)
  • C.I. Michaud et al.

    Relationships between a critical life event and eating behavior in high-school students

    Stress Med

    (1990)
  • G. Weidner et al.

    The effects of academic stress on health behaviors in young adults

    Anxiety Stress Coping

    (1996)
  • Cited by (166)

    • Association between positive psychological traits and changes in dietary behaviour related to first COVID-19 lockdown: A general population-based study

      2022, Appetite
      Citation Excerpt :

      We provided adjusted mean values and 95% CI. Potential confounders were selected based on variables shown in the literature to be associated with positive psychological traits (Campbell-Sills, Forde, & Stein, 2009; Fung et al., 2015; Haq, 2016; Marques-Vidal, Waeber, Vollenweider, & Guessous, 2018; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978) and diet (Liu et al., 2007; Marques-Vidal et al., 2018; Yannakoulia et al., 2008). Then, confounders associated with the different psychological traits, changes in snacking behaviour, food group consumption and dietary behaviour at the P < 0.2 level were retained in multivariable logistic regressions and covariance analyses.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text