Lifestyle behaviors and mental health-related outcomes among adults

Abstract

Introduction: Psychiatric disorders, such as depression are among the leading causes of disability worldwide. Diet and physical activity are among the protective factors for depression. However, important gaps remain regarding the associations of diet and physical activity with depression. First, the association between the consumption of ultra-processed food and incident depression still need further investigation. Second, the prospective association domain-based physical activity and incident depression still not clear. Third, how movement behaviors can change the association between ultra-processed food consumption and incident depression still unclear. Furthermore, beyond observation research, randomized clinical trial investigating how an exercise program can affect mechanisms linking to mood and cognition in a non-clinical population could help in the advance of public recommendations and guidelines for preventing depression, as well as other outcomes such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Objectives: I) To analyze the associations of lifestyle behaviors including physical activity, sedentary behavior, and the consumption of ultra-processed food with mental health-related outcomes. II) To analyze the effect of a randomized clinical trial, conducted in UK, with physical exercise on depressive symptoms, cognition, hippocampal neurogenesis and gut microbiota. This project involves observational data of the NutriNet-Brasil cohort, and a randomized control trial (NeuroFit), which will be conducted during the candidate's research internship. (AU)