Western diet may be bad for teens' mental health

Melbourne, June 9 (ANI): Western diet may have a negative impact on adolescents' mental health, according to a new study.

In the study of 1600 14-year-old adolescents, Dr Wendy Oddy, from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Western Australia, found that a typical Western diet increased a child's chance of developing emotional and behavioural problems.

During the study, Oddy identified two distinct dietary patterns that influenced the well-being of an individual.

The Western dietary pattern was linked to hamburgers, pies, sausage rolls, confectionery, red meat, refined grains, full-fat dairy food, as well as dressings and sauces such as ketchup.

However, the healthy dietary pattern consisted of red, yellow and leafy green vegetables, fresh fruit and legumes, wholegrains and fish.

"We then adjusted the analysis to take into account things you would expect to be associated with mental health, like family functioning, family income, single mothers, biological fathers not living at home, parents who smoke and parents' education," the Age quoted Oddy as saying.

The researchers found that Western diet makes an individual more likely to be withdrawn, anxious, aggressive and delinquent.

Oddy said that although teenagers were generally getting enough of the "good" foods from the healthy diet, they were also getting a lot of the other less healthy foods from the Western diet.

"There's a lot of snacking that's going on in between meals and a lot of drinks that are readily available and are being consumed as snacks," she said. (ANI)