Background: Little is known regarding the role of nutrition in determining the associations between lifestyle risk factors and depression.
Objectives: This study examined whether or not nutritional adequacy modulates the relationship between depression and lifestyle risk factors in Korean adults aged 18-65 years (n = 7446).
Methods: Data were obtained from the 2016 and 2018 Korea National Health and Examination Survey. Depression, smoking, at-risk alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, sleep deprivation, and mean adequacy ratio (MAR) were assessed.
Results: Individuals with two (OR = 1.960, p < 0.001), three (OR = 4.237, p < 0.001), or four (OR = 5.312, p < 0.001) risk factors had a significantly higher risk of depression compared to individuals with one or zero risk factor. In contrast, individuals with moderate MAR (OR = 0.607, p < 0.001) and high (OR = 0.698, p < 0.001) MAR had a lower depression risk compared to individuals with low MAR. Moderation analysis showed a moderating effect of MAR (coefficient = -0.220, p = 0.007) on the relationship between risk factors and depression.
Conclusions: The current findings suggest that overall nutritional adequacy plays a modulating role in determining the relationship between depression and lifestyle risk factors in Korean adults.
Keywords: Korean adults; depression; lifestyle risk factors; mental health; nutritional adequacy.