western diet may have a negative impact on adolescents mental health according to a new studyin the study of 1600 14yearold adolescents dr wendy oddy from the telethon institute for child health research in western australia found that a typical western diet increased a childs chance of developing emotional and behavioural problemsduring the study oddy identified two distinct dietary patterns that influenced the wellbeing of an individualthe western dietary pattern was linked to hamburgers pies sausage rolls confectionery red meat refined grains fullfat dairy food as well as dressings and sauces such as ketchuphowever the healthy dietary pattern consisted of red yellow and leafy green vegetables fresh fruit and legumes wholegrains and fishwe then adjusted the analysis to take into account things you would expect to be associated with mental health like family functioning family income single mothers biological fathers not living at home parents who smoke and parents education the age quoted oddy as sayingthe researchers found that western diet makes an individual more likely to be withdrawn anxious aggressive and delinquentoddy said that although teenagers were generally getting enough of the good foods from the healthy diet they were also getting a lot of the other less healthy foods from the western diettheres a lot of snacking thats going on in between meals and a lot of drinks that are readily available and are being consumed as snacks she saidfollow us on twitter for more stories