Last month, Taiwanese researchers published a study in The Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics investigating a link between mental health and eating habits of elderly people.
The researchers studied the mental health and eating habits of nearly 1,200 individuals over the age of 64, specifically depression and eating out.
What the researchers found was that elderly people who eat out are more likely to have symptoms of depression than those who do not. As well, the more frequently the subjects ate out, the higher the likelihood they would have depression symptoms. In fact, just one additional meal away from home was associated with a increase of 3.8 percentage points in the likelihood of having depression symptoms.