Association between dietary theobromine with depression: a population-based study

Abstract

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study is to investigate the possible link between dietary theobromine intake and symptoms of depression. Materials and methods These results are based on the responses of 3637 people who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2017–2018. Participants' daily theobromine intake was determined using a 24-h food questionnaire from the 2017–2018 cycle. Presence of depression was defined as a score of 5 or above on the Patient Health Questionnaire. Association between theobromine intake and depression was examined using a multivariate logistic regression adjusting for several relevant sociodemographic, lifestyle and health-related factors. Results A total of 6903 participants were included in the study. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed a correlation between depressive symptoms and theobromine intake (OR:1.17, 95%CI:1.02–1.34). Conclusions Our cross-sectional population based study suggests that increased theobromine intake is associated with increased risk for depression. Nevertheless, more investigations are needed to confirm our findings.