A Survey to the Connection between Nutrition and Mental Health of the Staff of a Medical Sciences University

Good nutrition is considered one of the paramount components of health which strongly influences humans’ physical and mental functioning. This Article aims to explore the connection between nutrition and mental health of the staff of Baqiyatallah Medical Sciences University.

In this survey 327 people from four medical departments of the university were picked at random and the research tools included food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) accompanying the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Afterwards the data was analyzed by SPSS15 software and statistical measures of ANOVA، Means’ Comparison، independent sample T-test، Spearman correlation test and multiple regression analysis.

The mean age of the sample population and their mean job experience were 35/02±7/6 and 11/72±7/8 respectively. Results indicated that consumption of dairy products، fruit and vegetable significantly correlates with physical complaints، anxiety and social withdrawal. In fact، the total mental health score is affected by staff’s nutrition (P<0. 01). Nevertheless، Correlation of other food groups with mental health wasn’t of great significance (P>0. 05).

The findings lead to the belief that nutrition and mental health of the staff of Baqiyatallah Medical Sciences University directly correlate with each other and sufficient intake of various nutrients can reduce mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.