Associations between dietary fat intake and mood in older European adults

data were entered into NetWisp (Tinuviel Software, Warrington, UK) and the specific micro- and macronutrient breakdowns of each diet recorded. Data were analysed using SPSS for Windows v15. Pearson’s Correlation indicated that higher positive affect was associated with more-frequent intake of saturated fat (SFA) (P < 0.001) (Fig 1) and polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) (P < 0.001) (Fig 2) and less-frequent intake of monounsaturated fat (MUFA) (P < 0.001) (Fig 3). Higher negative affect was positively associated with higher SFA intake (P < 0.005) (Table 1). There was no association between total fat intake and affect (Fig 4). The findings suggest that the type of dietary fat consumed may be related to mood in healthy older adults. More controlled research is required to determine whether dietary fat composition benefits mood. Table 1. Pearson correlations between affect on mood and dietary intake of specific nutruients (n = 382)