抄録
The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between sensitivity and mental health status in female university students with poor dietary habits．
Ninety six subjects were enrolled in the present study. They were classified by the result of self - evaluation questionnaire on dietary habits into 2 groups : one was ideal dietary habits group and the other was poor dietary habits group. Mental health status was evaluated using 28-item General Health Questionnaire Japanese version (GHQ28) and the score for 4 categories (somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression) were determined and the subjects were divided into 2 groups (low risk group and high risk group) using GHQ methods. The level of taste perception was evaluated using the filter paper disc methods to determine 5 tastes (sweet, umami, salty, sour and bitter)．
The ratio of the high risk group in each GHQ28 category was 55.2% for somatic symptoms, 52.1% for anxiety and insomnia, 22.9% for social dysfunction, and 16.7% for severe depression respectively. In each category of GHQ28, the high risk group had a higher ratio of poor dietary habits group than the low risk group. Especially, the significant relationship between mental health status and dietary habits was found in the category of social dysfunction and severe depression．
In the category of social dysfunction, the threshold of the salty taste was higher in the high risk group than the low risk group. Also, in the category of severe depression, the threshold of sweet and sour were higher in the high risk group than the low risk group.
These findings suggested that poor dietary habits may promote the social dysfunction and severe depression, resulting reduction of sensitivity to the salty, sweet and sour taste in female university students.
