Author(s) :

Jiyun Lim.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

This study explores the associations between dietary habits and anxiety disorders at the population level. Although there has been increasing scholarly attention to the biological mechanisms, such as the gut-brain axis, and social mechanisms, such as socio-economic status, through which anxiety disorders emerge, few empirical studies have examined the dietary factors that may improve or impair anxiety disorders at the population level. Thus, this study hypothesizes that several risk and protective factors related to dietary habits are strongly associated with anxiety disorders and tests this relationship using data from the 2024 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), published by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, consisting of the final analytical sample of 4,406 respondents. The regression analyses with multiple models reveal no statistically significant associations between nutrient-level diet factors, such as daily intake of saturated fat, omega-6 fatty acid, sodium, sugar, omega-3 fatty acid, and fiber, and anxiety symptoms. However, the results also reveal consistent significance of some socioeconomic, health, and behavioral factors, including income, health access, health literacy, smoking, and sleep, which all exhibited p-values less than 0.05 across different models. These results are discussed from the perspective of the fundamental cause theory. Key improvements in research design and data collection to test the associations between diet and anxiety at the population level are discussed. Also, the broader implications of how public health policy should intervene in the rising prevalence of anxiety are presented.