Genetic and environmental influences on fruit and vegetable consumption and depression in older adults

BMC Geriatrics

Research

David Ames¹  Henry Brodaty²  Annabel P. Matison²  Anbupalam Thalamuthu²  Vibeke S. Catts²  Karen A. Mather²  Simone Reppermund³  Julian N. Trollor³  Perminder S. Sachdev⁴  Victoria M. Flood⁵  Margaret J. Wright⁶ 

[1]Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, University of Melbourne, St George’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

[2]National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

[3]Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Level 1, AGSM (G27) Gate 11, Botany Street, 2052, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[4]Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Level 1, AGSM (G27) Gate 11, Botany Street, 2052, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[5]Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry (3DN), Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[6]Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Level 1, AGSM (G27) Gate 11, Botany Street, 2052, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[7]Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[8]Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

[9]University Centre for Rural Health, Northern Rivers, Lismore, NSW, Australia

[10]Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

[11]Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

关键词: Fruit;    Vegetables;    Depression;    Genetics;    Heritability;    Twin study;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-023-03745-0

 received in 2022-08-09, accepted in 2023-01-10,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPrior work suggests that higher fruit and vegetable consumption may protect against depression in older adults. Better understanding of the influence of genetic and environmental factors on fruit and vegetable intakes may lead to the design of more effective dietary strategies to increase intakes. In turn this may reduce the occurrence of depression in older adults.ObjectivesThe primary aim of this study is to estimate the genetic and environmental influences on the consumption of fruit and vegetables in older adults. The secondary aim is an exploratory analysis into possible shared genetic influences on fruit and vegetable intakes and depression.MethodsAnalysis of observational data from 374 twins (67.1% female; 208 monozygotic (MZ); 166 dizygotic (DZ)) aged ≥ 65 years drawn from the Older Australian Twins Study. Dietary data were obtained using a validated food frequency questionnaire and depressive symptoms were measured using the 15-item short form Geriatric Depression Scale. The contribution of genetic and environmental influences on fruit and vegetable intake were estimated by comparing MZ and DZ twin intakes using structural equation modelling. A tri-variate twin model was used to estimate the genetic and environmental correlation between total fruit and vegetable intakes and depression.ResultsIn this study, vegetable intake was moderately influenced by genetics (0.39 95%CI 0.22, 0.54). Heritability was highest for brassica vegetables (0.40 95%CI 0.24, 0.54). Overall fruit intake was not significantly heritable. No significant genetic correlations were detected between fruit and vegetable intake and depressive symptoms.ConclusionsVegetable consumption, particularly bitter tasting brassica vegetables, was significantly influenced by genetics, although environmental influences were also apparent. Consumption of fruit was only influenced by the environment, with no genetic influence detected, suggesting strategies targeting the food environment may be particularly effective for encouraging fruit consumption.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 5