We thank Dr. Yijia Zhang for her interest in our recent paper [1] published in European Journal of Nutrition. In our previous study in this population, meat intake was not related to depressive symptoms during pregnancy, while saturated fatty acids were significantly positively associated with depressive symptoms during pregnancy [2]. Additional adjustment for meat intake did not materially change the results: additional adjusted prevalence ratio between extreme quartiles for total soy products was 0.63 (95%, CI 0.47–0.86; P for trend = 0.002). Excluding Zen monks, Japanese people are not likely to consume soy products as the alternative sources of animal products [3]. Again, we express our appreciation for her comment.