Association between chocolate intake and depressive symptoms among people aged 55 years and above in four provinces of China

Background Depression has a profound impact on sufferer's work and life. It has been reported that chocolate consumption has a certain effect on depression in foreign countries, but there is a lack of research for Chinese population.

Objective This study is designed to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of and the relationship between chocolate intake and depressive symptoms in people aged 55 years and above in four provinces of China.

Methods A total of 8 038 people aged 55 years and above from Hebei, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, and Hunan provinces were selected as study subjects based on the baseline survey data (including demographic variables, diet, and self-assessed geriatric depression) from the Community-based Cohort Study on Nervous System Diseases. The Geriatric Depression Scale-30 (GDS-30) was used to determine the degree of depressive symptoms of the study subjects, and the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to obtain dietary data. Multiple linear regression models and multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the relationship between chocolate intake and depressive symptoms.

Results There were 3 469 males and 4 569 females in the study, and the overall positive rate of depressive symptoms was 8.68%. Higher positive rates of depressive symptoms were found in residents ≥ 65 years of age (vs. 55-64 years, 9.40% vs. 7.79%), urban population (vs. rural population, 13.20% vs. 5.45%), never smokers (vs. smokers, 9.32% vs. 6.06%), and never drinkers (vs. drinkers, 9.16% vs. 5.90%) in the past year; there were also significant differences in the positive rate of depressive symptoms among residents with different education levels and physical activity levels (P < 0.01), but not in different chocolate intake groups. The multiple linear regression analysis results showed that an additional intake of 1g chocolate per week increased GDS-30 scores by 0.035 in men, but there was no such association in women. The multiple logistic regression analysis results showed that chocolate consumption was not associated with depressive symptoms in either men or women.

Conclusion About 8.68% of the people aged 55 years and older in selected four provinces of China have different degrees of depressive symptoms, but no association is found between chocolate intake and depression symptoms.