Here's an article about a study with fascinating results:
Is Your Junk Food Habit Making You Depressed?
The study found that:
Quote:
After adjusting for variables such as age and sex, the scientists found that high consumption of processed food was associated with increased likelihood of depression, whereas those who had the highest consumption of whole foods were least likely to be depressed, and even less likely than those in the whole food pattern who ate fewer whole foods.
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and
Quote:
"Our finding shows a strong association between diet and depressive symptoms after controlling for a large range of socio-demographic factors, and for health behaviors such as smoking, physical activity, and health status," notes lead study author Tasnime Akbaraly, PhD, an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Montpellier, France. While it's possible that a healthy diet is a marker of some other factor that protects against depression, "the effect of diet on depressive symptoms didn't go down after we adjusted for other indicators of a healthy lifestyle, such as smoking, physical activity, and body mass, Akbaraly says. "What we found isn't a spurious association."
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The article doesn't go into the "why" of the association of junk food with depression and whether it's a physical or psychological response, or perhaps both. If I can find the original study, maybe it will be clearer.
Regardless, I personally can believe that depression might be a physical reaction to junk food. Those of us who have switched to a whole foods diet can all attest to what happens when we eat off-plan! Sugar and junky food makes me lethargic and unhappy, where I feel like a slug instead of brimming with energy.
I'm curious what everyone else thinks!