Depression symptoms and sweet foods consumption in Mexican college men: the role of emotional eating.

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the association between depression symptoms and frequency of unhealthy food consumption, and to explore the mediation effect of emotional eating in this relationship in college men.

METHOD: a cross-sectional study was performed on 764 men at a public university in Mexico City. To assess emotional eating (EE), a validated Spanish-language version of the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress Questionnaire (EADES) was applied. Depression symptoms were evaluated using the scale elaborated by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies (CES-D) and a Questionnaire of Frequency of Food Consumption was used to measure frequency of food consumption. Path and mediation analysis were applied.

RESULTS: one-fifth (20.42 %) of college men reported depression symptoms (CES-D ≥ 16). Students with depression symptoms had a higher mean EE score (p < 0.001), a higher frequency of fried food (p = 0.049), sweetened beverages (p = 0.050), and sweet foods consumption (p = 0.005) than students with low CES-D score. According to the mediation analysis, the effect of depression symptoms on the frequency of sweet foods consumption was partially mediated by EE (23.11 % of the total effect).

CONCLUSION: the prevalence of depression symptoms was high. EE is an important mediator in the relationship between depression symptoms and the consumption of sweet foods. Understanding the manifestation of eating behaviors in men and their relationship with depression symptoms may help clinicians and health authorities develop treatment and prevention programs aimed to decrease the risk of obesity and eating disorders.