Exploring the Association of dietary index for gut microbiota with Parkinson's disease and depression: Insights from NHANES.

BACKGROUNDDepression and Parkinson's disease (PD) are important public health issues strongly associated with diet and gut microbiota. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the dietary index for gut microbiota (DI-GM) with Parkinson's disease and depression.

METHODSThis cross-sectional study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database (2007-2020), with a total of 26,473 participants aged 18-80 years, weighted to represent 256 million US adults. Dietary recall data were used to calculate the DI-GM. Weighted logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between the DI-GM and depression and PD, and to explore the potential mediating role of the DI-GM in depression and PD. Subgroup analyses and restricted cubic spline (RCS) analyses were also performed.

RESULTSThe weighted prevalence of PD combined with depression was approximately 22.99 %. We found a possible inverted U-shaped relationship between DI-GM and depression. Higher DI-GM scores were associated with a lower risk of PD (OR = 0.84, 95 % CI (0.75,0.94)). Mediation modelling indicated no significant role for DI-GM in the relationship between depression and PD. The RCS showed a non-linear association between DI-GM and PD.

CONCLUSIONSA dose-dependent nonlinear association was identified between the DI-GM and PD. Preliminary evidence suggests a potential inverted U-shaped DI-GM-depression relationship requiring validation. This suggests that focusing on DI-GM may be helpful in studying PD and depression.