1.      Women with major depressive disorder reported higher soft drink intake compared with healthy controls.

2.      Greater soft drink consumption in women was tied to more severe depressive symptoms.

3.      No statistically significant associations were observed in men.

4.      In women, soft drink intake was linked to higher abundance of Eggerthella.

5.      Eggerthella mediated about 4% of the diagnosis association and 5% of the severity association.

6.      Soft drink intake was linked to reduced microbial diversity, but diversity itself was not tied to depression.

7.      Associations in women remained after adjusting for body mass index and calorie intake.

8.      The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference; diet was self-reported and beverage types were not distinguished.

Source: JAMA Psychiatry