Association of low-carbohydrate diet score with perceived stress score: A cross-sectional study in Iranian nurses

Stressful factors in nurses include a lack of job opportunities and a connection to death issues. The efficacy of low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) on mood and emotion has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, the purpose of present study was to investigate the impact of LCD adherence score on perceived stress score (PSS) among nurses.

For the assessment of LCD adherence score, all 270 nurses completed three, separate, 24-hour food recall questionnaires. The ten-item PSS questionnaire was also completed. The mean differences in measured parameters between tertiles of LCD adherence score and linear association was checked between LCD score and PSS.

Findings showed that higher adherence to LCD score was associated with lower PSS among enrolled nurses (P= 0.023). In addition, hip circumference was significantly different in tertiles of PSS (P= 0.01); whilst linear regression showed a significant negative association between LCD adherence score and PSS (β=-0.229; P value = 0.048).

The present study suggests that higher LCD adherence score could be associated with lower perceived stress among nurses.