Bipolar Disorder is associated with a higher dietary glycemic load

  • Ms Felice Jacka, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • A/Prof Julie Pasco, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Dr Lana Williams, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Prof Geoffrey Nicholson, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • A/Prof Mark Kotowicz, University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Prof Michael Berk, University of Melbourne, Australia

    • Background: Diets with a high glycemic load are associated with increased levels of systemic inflammation as measured by levels of C-reactive protein. Inflammation is a common feature of depressive illness and there is evidence to support the contention that depression and mania may be inflammatory conditions. This investigation focused on the association between dietary glycemic load (GL) and bipolar disorder (BD) in a community sample of adult women from South-eastern Australia.

    Methods: In this observational study of 688 women aged 20-93yr, randomly selected from the community and participating in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study, 21 women with BP (I, II or NOS) were compared to 667 women with no psychiatric diagnoses. BP was diagnosed utilising a semi-structured clinical interview (SCID-I/NP) and a validated food frequency questionnaire used to assess habitual dietary GL.

    Results: The results of ANCOVA analyses demonstrated that the mean dietary GL of women with BD was significantly higher than that of healthy controls (MąSD = 113.2 ą55.6 vs 89.1 ą33.9, p=0.002). Adjustment for age did not affect this relationship.

    Discussion: In this community-based study of adult women, BD was associated with a significantly higher dietary GL. While reverse causality may be an explanation for these results, there remains the possibility that dietary factors are involved in the pathophysiology of BD via their association with inflammation. Longitudinal studies with larger samples are warranted and planned.