Associations of dietary advanced glycation end products and the risk of depression and anxiety

Eur J Nutr. 2025 Oct 15;64(7):296. doi: 10.1007/s00394-025-03818-3.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Dietary advanced glycation end products (AGEs) might exert adverse effects on mental disorders. To explore whether elevated dietary AGEs intake is associated with increased risk of mental disorders, and whether this association might be affected by genetic risk and allostatic load (AL).

METHODS: A prospective cohort study, including a total of 112,989 participants, conducted at least two 24-h dietary assessments in the UK Biobank Study (2006-2010) and were followed up until 2021. Dietary AGEs, including Nε-(1-Carboxyethyl)-l-lysine (CEL), Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine (CML), and Nδ-(5-hydro-5-methyl-4-imidazolon-2-yl)-ornithine (MG-H1) were estimated via averaged data from the multiple 24-h food assessments according to the ultra-performance LC-tandem MS based dietary AGEs database. Incident depression and anxiety, ascertained via hospital admission records and mental health questionnaires.

RESULTS: During an average follow-up period of 12.9 years, 5489 and 5163 participants developed depression and anxiety, respectively. When comparing high (Q5) quantiles with low quantiles (Q1&2) of dietary AGEs intake, HRs (95%CIs) of depression, anxiety, and mental disorders were 1.16 (1.07, 1.27), 1.11 (1.01, 1.22) and 1.14 (1.07, 1.22), respectively. High dietary CML and MG-H1 intake were also associated increased risk of depression, anxiety, and their co-occurrence. The positive associations between dietary AGEs intake and the risk of depression were more pronounced among participants with intermediate and high genetic risk (P-interaction < 0.001) and with high AL level (P-interaction = 0.019).

CONCLUSIONS: Consuming high levels of dietary AGEs (including CML and MG-H1) was associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety. This association may be affected by genetic risk and AL.

PMID:41091214 | DOI:10.1007/s00394-025-03818-3