Abstract:

Introduction: The mental health of undergraduate students has been a growing affliction, which can also be triggered by inadequate eating habits, such as low consumption of nutrients and phytochemicals and high consumption of ultra-processed products. Objective: to analyze the influence of diet quality and its association with anxiety and depression disorders among college students. Materials and Methods: cross-sectional study, with 137 university students, of both sexes, enrolled in undergraduate health-related courses, residents of the metropolitan region of Recife-PE. Food consumption was assessed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) which was answered according to the interviewees' routine. An anxiety and depression scale was used to investigate the risk of developing these mental disorders in the interviewed students. These questionnaires were self-completed online, and data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software. Results and discussion: A representative amount of the sample is classified at probable risk of having anxiety disorders 50 (36.5%), and 40 (29.2%) possible risk of developing, the consumption of salty and sweet cookies showed an association with anxiety (p=0.043), sandwich cookies with anxiety (p=0.015), and depression (p=<0.001), being the food that showed the greatest relationship with anxiety and depression, and fried foods also had a significant relation with anxiety (p=0.049). Conclusion: The results demonstrate the prevalence of anxiety among this sample of university students in the health area, contributing to the triggering of other emotional comorbidities, and its significant relationship with certain foods.

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