Ultra-Processed Foods Linked to Depression

Before you reach for those Doritos, consider the findings of a new study: consuming large amounts of ultra-processed foods – those high in sugar, salt, hydrogenated fats, and additives – may be linked to depression.

Women who ate nine servings a day of ultra-processed foods were more likely to develop depression than those who consumed no more than four, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Open Network. NBC News laid out the results of an investigation that studied the diet and mental health of 31,000 women between the ages of 42 and 62.

Ultra-processed foods include typical “junk food,” like candy, chips, and soda, but ready-to-eat meals, canned soup, packaged bread, and even yogurt also fall into the category. The study also found that foods and drinks that contained artificial sweeteners were especially detrimental.

Why the link? It’s not entirely clear. Nor could the study determine conclusively which came first: the diet or the depression.

“We don’t have a lot of energy when we are feeling depressed,” said Susan Albers, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic not involved with this study, “so it’s easy to reach for those foods when we are low energy and don’t have motivation to cook or to grocery shop — just open a package and they are ready to go.”

As any researcher will tell you, correlation is not causation. Because the study was not a clinical trial, it cannot prove that the ultra-processed foods caused depression, but experts have noted that the findings echo other studies linking the two. Albers also notes that additional research has shown the opposite is also true: eating whole foods – rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals – is linked to good mental health.,

Some of the researchers involved in the study are particularly interested in the gut-brain axis.

“There is emerging evidence that ultra-processed food may actually disrupt the normal gut microbiome,” said study co-author Dr. Andrew Chan, the chief of the clinical and translational epidemiology unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

People who consume a lot of ultra-processed foods tend to have a gut that is more pro-inflammatory, possibly causing the gut microbiome to release molecules that influence risk for depression, Chan explained.

It’s possible that artificial sweeteners play a role in the link between the food we eat and depression. Albers explained that artificial sweeteners may cause a process called purinergic transmission, where the brain doesn’t release the right amount of an energy-carrying molecule called ATP, the universal source of energy for all our cells. In healthy bodies, ATP binds with other molecules in the brain — like serotonin and dopamine, the “feel-good chemicals” — to send messages between neurons. This disruption leads to inflammation in the brain, leading experts to suspect it may be responsible for the link to depression.

If research one day established that ultra-processed food indeed increases the risk of depression, it would be a very practical piece of information for those suffering from the condition.

If that were the case, avoiding ultra-processed foods would then have double benefit, to both physical and mental health. “It may be a relatively easy way to prevent both depression and longer-term problems that could be more difficult to deal with,” said Chan.

In the meantime, research has shown that eating healthy, nutrient-rich whole foods certainly cannot hurt.

Read the full article here.

Or read more on the link between artificial sweeteners and mood.

 

Sullivan, Kaitlin. “Ultraprocessed foods linked to depression, study finds.” NBCNews.com, 20 Sept, 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/ultraprocessed-foods-linked-depression-study-finds-rcna106811

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