Is the association between food insecurity and depression mediated by diet?
Abstract
Food insecurity (FI) is associated with negative affective states such as depression. FI involves distinctive patterns of dietary intake, and recent evidence suggests that dietary intake affects affective state. Dietary variables may therefore represent an important pathway linking FI to poor mental health. In two cross-sectional datasets (one from the UK, n = 394, and NHANES 2017-18 from the USA, n = 4011), we examined: associations between FI and affective state; between FI and dietary patterns; between dietary patterns and affective state; and the statistical mediation of the FI-affective state association by dietary patterns. In both datasets, FI was associated with a more negative affective state, greater meal irregularity, and reduced dietary diversity; lower dietary diversity was associated with a more negative affective state. Other FI-diet and diet-affective state associations were inconsistent across datasets. Dietary variables partially mediated the FI-affective state association in both datasets, accounting for 23% and 6% of the total association respectively, with dietary diversity the only individually significant mediator. These findings suggest that while reduced dietary diversity partially explains the association between FI and outcomes such as depression, neither it nor other dietary variables account for the greater part of this relationship.
Related
- Examining the association between household water insecurity, food insecurity and depression among people living with HIV in Ghana
- From Charity to Food Social Security: Reframing Food Insecurity in a Segregated Urban Context
- Why is food insecurity associated with health outcomes? A review of possible pathways
- Climate change, natural resource conflicts and insecurity in Nigeria: implication for food security
- Leveraging Multi-Isotope Systems to Investigate Conflict, Food Insecurity, and Elevated Nitrogen Isotope Values in the Nazca Highlands of Peru During the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1450 CE).
BibTeX
@article{bateson2026association,
title = {{Is the association between food insecurity and depression mediated by diet?}},
author = {Melissa Bateson and Courtney Neal and Oliver Shannon and Daniel Nettle},
journal = {Appetite},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1016/j.appet.2026.108696},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05735946v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Is the association between food insecurity and depression mediated by diet?
AU - Melissa Bateson
AU - Courtney Neal
AU - Oliver Shannon
AU - Daniel Nettle
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
JO - Appetite
DO - 10.1016/j.appet.2026.108696
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05735946v1
AB - Food insecurity (FI) is associated with negative affective states such as depression. FI involves distinctive patterns of dietary intake, and recent evidence suggests that dietary intake affects affective state. Dietary variables may therefore represent an important pathway linking FI to poor mental health. In two cross-sectional datasets (one from the UK, n = 394, and NHANES 2017-18 from the USA, n = 4011), we examined: associations between FI and affective state; between FI and dietary patterns; between dietary patterns and affective state; and the statistical mediation of the FI-affective state association by dietary patterns. In both datasets, FI was associated with a more negative affective state, greater meal irregularity, and reduced dietary diversity; lower dietary diversity was associated with a more negative affective state. Other FI-diet and diet-affective state associations were inconsistent across datasets. Dietary variables partially mediated the FI-affective state association in both datasets, accounting for 23% and 6% of the total association respectively, with dietary diversity the only individually significant mediator. These findings suggest that while reduced dietary diversity partially explains the association between FI and outcomes such as depression, neither it nor other dietary variables account for the greater part of this relationship.
SN - 0195-6663
SN - 1095-8304
ER -