According to a research study conducted at the University of Granada and University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, people that eat fast food are 51 percent more likely to develop depression than those who do not eat it.
The study which was published in the journal ‘Public Health Nutrition’ assessed 8,964 participants who had no medical history of depression and had never taken antidepressants. The participants were observed over a period of six months. Depression was found to be present in 493 participants with many of these beginning a course of antidepressants.
The results suggested that the people who eat most fast food and commercial baked goods, such as croissants, cakes and doughnuts, regularly are most at risk of suffering with symptoms of depression with the risk increasing in proportion to the amount of junk food consumption. In addition to the amount of processed food consumed, there were a number of other characteristics of the group that were also linked to the increased prominence of depression. The depressed participants were most likely to be single, less active and have poor dietary habits, devoid of fruit, nuts, fish, vegetables and olive oil. Additionally, substantial smoking habits and working more than 45 hours per week were associated with the increased risk of depression.
As a fact that fast, processed food is not only linked to weight gain, poor physical health and now mental illness does not come as much of a surprise. However, the fact that rather than addressing some of the poor habits that have been categorically found to cause the problem, the solution seems only to drug someone with antidepressants to alleviate their symptoms – where is the logic in that?
