Relation between Dietary Omega-3 (n-3) and Omega-6 (n-3) Fatty Acid Intake and Depressive Symptoms in College Students of Central Mindanao University

Abstract

Wilmar Jun O Elopre

This study aimed to determine the relationship between the intake of n-3 and n-6 fatty acids and the incidence of depression in college students. This study especially tested whether the association between the two was strong enough to be significant despite the effects of confounders found in college environment. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the different data from 201 college respondents for this study. Usual food intake recall (UFIR) was used to determine the n-3 and n-6 fatty acid intake; Beck Depression Inventory – II (BDI-II) for the ascertainment of depressive symptoms and a miscellaneous questionnaire for the determination of confounders. The study used the binary hierarchical logistic regression analysis to analyze the data. The results showed that there was significant relationship between n-3 and n-6 fatty acid intake and depressive symptoms in college students (x2 = 12.39, df = 1, p<.000). The n-3 and n-6 fatty acid intake variable strongly predicted the incidence of depressive symptoms in the hierarchical model (p<0.001, df =1) and that the association was independent from the influence of the confounders. The results also showed that a college student with adequate n-3 and n-6 fatty acid intake was 4.509 times more likely to have no depression than a college student with inadequate intake (95% C.I. = 1.857 to 10.949).

PDF