Investigation of the relationship between food consumption and emotions that show psychobiotic characteristics of healthcare professionals: Karabük province example

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between psychobiotic food consumption and moods in healthcare professionals. Material and Method: The research was conducted on healthcare professionals in December 2022. The research sample consists of healthcare workers over the age of 18 and at least secondary school graduates (physician, nurses, midwives, laboratorians, anesthesia technicians, audiologists, radiology technicians, medical secretaries, nurses, civil servants, psychologists and physiotherapists). A questionnaire comprised three parts. In the first part, there are questions containing general information about the demographic characteristics of the participants (age, educational status, profession, etc.). In the second part, the nutritional habits of the participants and the food consumption frequency form including the foods showed psychobiotic properties were used. In the third part, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used. Body Mass Indexes were calculated by measuring the body weight and height of the individuals. Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0) package program. Results: 88 (57.5%) of the participants were female and 65 (42.5%) of them were male. 57 participants (37.3%) were in the age range of 40-49. Negatively, weakly statistically significant relationship was found between the age and anxiety scale (rho=-0.208; p=0.010). A negatively significant relationship was found between the anxiety subscale and foods such as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and oats/oat bran consumption (rho=-0.231, p=0.004; rho=-0.387, p=0.000). Fish and fish oil consumption and depression and stress subscales have been positively statistically significant relationship (rho=0.166, p=0.040; rho=0.200, p=0.013). Conclusion: The consumption of probiotics and psychobiotics is increasing day by day with the increase in the level of knowledge. Because psychobiotics have effects in alleviating anxiety, depression and psychological problems, it is thought that they may have positive effects, such as reducing the effects of factors that cause obesity, such as emotional eating. In this study, there are relationships between depression, anxiety and stress and consumption of psychobiotic foods, but there is a need for more detailed and large-scale studies as there are many factors that can affect the level of stress and anxiety.