Introduction

As of today’s generation, anxiety disorders are common in the

general population (healthline.com). A systematic review including

44 countries worldwide estimated the current common

concurrence disorders to be at 7.3%. The worldwide estimation of

the current prevalence varied between 10.4% in America to 28.3%

in Afghanistan and the current common occurrence was estimated

to be 1.8% in China and the other Asian countries including the

Philippines (Sciencedirect.com).

In the 2010 study of (Global Burden of Disease), an estimated one

out of nine individuals will suffer from an anxiety and depressive

disorders are a major public health concern. The term anxiety

describes the experience of worry, apprehension, or nervousness

in association with physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms.

( Gale C.K., Millichamp )

Studies already assessed the associations of mental disorders

including anxiety with diet, but most of these studies assessed the

effects of dietary habits on psychological well-being, often referred

to as nutritional psychiatry (S. Higgs, et al).

Another significant association was observed between current

anxiety disorders and binge eating/purging behaviors. Such as

losing control over how much one is eating. Given the crucial
impacts that these disorders can exert on a persons behavior, they

are also likely to influence shopping and eating habits, leading to

limited food selection. Furthermore, restlessness and

gastrointestinal symptoms related to anxiety disorders might also

result in changes in eating behaviors and dietary habit

(Sciencedirect.com).

An emerging field of study called nutritional psychiatry existed to

introduce the nutritional way of intervention for treatment of

anxiety disorders. This high quality intervention has demonstrated

an anti-depressant effect to subjects of anxiety disorders.

However, the amount of research on anxiety disorders lags behind

that of mood disorders. There is a clear lack of studies delivering

diet counseling, education or food as an intervention to individuals

with diagnosed anxiety disorders as well as systematic synthesis

of the existing literature on the relationship between dietary

factors and anxiety disorders. Therefore, the objective of this

review was to systematically elucidate the body of existing

literature on anxiety and nutrition in order to identify the correlation

between the anxiety disorder and the quality of diet.

Research Objectives:
 The primary focus of this research is to define the correlation

between the level of anxiety disorder and the diet quality among

Grade-12 Stem-B students.

Specifically, this research shall seek:

1. To determine the level of anxiety disorder in terms of:

1.1 Socioeconomic Status

1.2 Past or Childhood traumas; and

1.3 Medical illness

2. To assess the current diet quality engaged by the Grade-12

Stem-B students in terms of:

2.1 Intensity

2.2 Frequency

2.3 Variety of foods

3. To define the relationship between the level of anxiety disorder

and the diet quality of Grade-12 Stem-B students.

Hypothesis

1. There is a significant relationship between the level of anxiety

disorder and the diet quality of Grade - 12 Stem B students.

Theoretical Framework
 The purpose of this study is to prove that the level of anxiety

disorder has a significant relationship on the diet quality of Grade

12 Stem B students. Most of the contents of some health literature

authored by medical sources only states a vague link between the

dietary quality and level of anxiety. Therefore the association of

these two variables remains complex and unclear. A study

authored by (Moseley G.) states a theory that dietary patterns

impact the likelihood of developing anxiety disorder and anxiety

disorder impacts eating behavior. This occurs through changes in

motivation and appetite that can result to mental illness and

metabolic changes, increased appetite and cravings, and

gastrointestinal distress that can occur as of psychiatric

medications. Additionally, confounding factors such as eating

disorders may be responsible for associations that are present.

Given this bidirectional relationship, the findings of cross-sectional

studies have limited ability to answer the question of how food

impacts anxiety. Another important consideration when

interpreting the study findings is the potential for difference

between short and long term impacts of food on anxiety

symptoms. Moreover, the study listed the results with its 17 human

observational studies assessing the relationship between quality

of diet and anxiety disorders, 15 reported an association with poor

quality of diet on high level of anxiety disorder, and two reported no

association. Furthermore, this study is also underpinned on the

preposition of Dalna and Akana S.F (2003) who believed that

emotional symptoms may drive eating behavior because of their

immediate effects on the mitigation of emotional symptoms, The

term “comfort eating” has been used to describe this phenomenon

where individuals consume foods in response to negative effects

brought by the anxiety.

It is in this light that the mentioned theory shall aid the

progress of this study in proving the correlation of the quality of

diet and level of anxiety disorder through cross-sectional study

needs to assess the prevalence of anxiety disorder.

Conceptual Framework

Several related concepts were produced by the use of research

questions in this topic, the independent variables are:

Socioeconomic Status, Past or Childhood experiences and Medical

Illnesses. Socioeconomic status refers to the position of an

individual or group on the socioeconomic scale, which is

determined by a combination of social and economic factors such

as income, amount and kind of education, type and prestige

occupation, place of residence (apa.org). Past or Childhood

traumas refers to the negative events that are emotionally painful

that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope, this event leaves a

psychological consequences to the victim. Mental Illnesses refers

to the period of sickness affecting the body or mind (istss.org)

Significance of the study

Anxiety disorders have become a huge issue especially on

today's generation, an estimated 275 million people suffer from

anxiety disorders (Agenda 2019). In the global perspective, this

study may address the strong link between the level of anxiety and

the diet quality of an individual. Understanding the connection

between these two variables will provide an additional motivation

especially for an individual whose suffering from an anxiety and

using diet as a coping mechanism. People often neglect the

importance of nutrition to their bodies as a result, people with

medical conditions are having a hard time healing from it as the

medications cannot accomplish its task because certain nutrients

from the foods we eat is required.

In a micro scale, this study shall provide benefit to relevant

institutions namely: teenagers, sick individuals, Health

practitioners and other researchers. For the teenagers, being

the most common victims of anxiety, this study will give them

information about anxiety and how diet can lessen the effects
 of anxiety. For the sick individuals, this study will further

enlighten their insights regarding the anxiety caused by their

sickness and how it correlates to the nutritional diet they are

currently undergoing. For the Health practitioners, this study

shall provide them additional information about handling

individuals with anxiety disorder and how they can use

nutritional diet as a medical intervention. For other

researchers, the research output can contribute to the existing

body of knowledge about the significant relationship between

the level of anxiety disorder and the diet quality which will allow

them to develop research agenda and adopt practices to

further promote the nutritional diet as a medical intervention

for anxiety disorder and highlight the importance of diet quality

in reducing the effects of anxiety disorders.

Definition of Terms

Level of anxiety disorder. In this study, this refers to the intensity

of the anxiety disorder a certain individual have, which is

influenced by some factors namely: Socioeconomic status, Past or

childhood traumas and medical illnesses.

Diet quality. In this study, this refers to the amount of nutrients and

the uptake of specific nutrients from foods to support body

maintenance. In this study, the term refers defined as Intensity,

frequency and variety of foods.