目標：探討台灣老年人食物攝取頻率與憂鬱之關聯。方法：本研究資料來源為「台灣中老年身心社會生活狀況長期追蹤調查」第一世代樣本於1999年(2074名，≥67歲)及2003年的資料庫。以邏吉斯迴歸分析各類食物攝取頻率與憂鬱傾向(1999年)的關聯性，及預測四年後(2003)憂鬱風險的能力。結果：在控制性別、年齡、教育年數、獨居與否、吸菸、飲酒、運動、慢性疾病數、自覺健康狀況、經濟、活動功能、身體質量指數、及食慾等變項下，橫斷分析顯示每週攝取蔬果≥3次者比以下者之憂鬱風險少38% (OR＝0.62, 95 CI＝0.44-0.87, p＝0.005)；茶每週飲用≥3次比以下者少38% (0.62, 0.45-0.86, p＝0.004)；縱貫分析顯示，蔬果每週攝取≥3次者比以下者，其四年後的憂鬱傾向少38% (0.62, 0.42-0.93, p＝0.022)，而茶每週飲用≥3次者比以下者少44% (0.56, 0.38-0.82, p＝0.003)；其他食物如肉禽、乳品、蛋、豆類、魚類、穀類及營養補充品，則不顯著。結論：蔬果及茶的攝取與老年人的憂鬱風險呈負關聯，也是憂鬱風險的預測因子。此結果顯示食物攝取可能影響憂鬱風險，也凸顯健康飲食的重要性。

Objectives: To investigate the association between the frequency of intake of the major food categories and the risk of depression in older Taiwanese. Methods: The study analyzed the 1999 and 2003 data sets (2074 •67 year-old individuals) of the “Survey of Health and Living Status of the Elderly in Taiwan”. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the significance of the association
between frequency of food intake and the risk of depression (cross-sectional analysis) and the ability of frequency of intake to predict the risk for future depression (longitudinal analysis) in older Taiwanese after controlling for gender,age, education, living status, smoking, drinking, physical exercise, number of chronic diseases, self-rated health status, satisfaction with economic condition,functional status, Body Mass Index and appetite. Results: Results showed that more
frequent consumption (•3 times/wk vs. •2 times/wk) of fruits & vegetables and more frequent consumption of tea (camellia sinensis) were
significantly associated with reduced risk of depression (OR=0.62, 95%CI=0.44-0.87, p=0.005 and 0.62, 0.45-0.86,p=0.004, respectively) and more frequent fruit & vegetable consumption and tea-drinking alsosignificantly predicted a lower risk of depression (0.62,0.42-0.93, p=0.022 and 0.56, 0.38-0.82, p=0.003, respectively) four years later.Other food groups including meat-poultry, dairy, legumes, fish, grain and nutritional supplements were of no significant benefit. Conclusions: Results
suggest that more frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated withreduced current and future risk of depression in older Taiwanese. These results suggest that diet may play a role in depression, and a healthy diet is the key to a healthy life. (Taiwan J Public Health.