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AFICNews July 2010









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Eating junk food ‘can cause depression’

Published on 22-01-2010 Share/Bookmark       Email To Friend    Print Version


Times of India, January 17, 2010
This article seems to be a repeat of a story that was first carried in November of 2009. AFIC published a review of that article which can be found at http://afic.org/searchall.php?news_id=1083&start=0&category_id=3&parent_id=3&pageaction2=searchnews&searchby=bykey&searchkey=depression&datesearch=
In essence, the article was about research being conducted in the UK where the authors conclude that office workers who eat “junk” food tend to suffer symptoms of depression. AFIC’s review looked at concerns about the reliability of the dietary data for the participants, the lack of clinical diagnoses of depression and the lack of compelling effects given the variable quality of the data. 
Since the issue has now resurfaced in the Asian media this brief is an update which includes information that has been reported from the University of New South Wales. The press accounts describe work done by Prof. Margaret Morris on stress chemicals in the brains of rats. Dr Morris showed that “rats with a more traumatic early life were found to have higher levels of stress hormones and fewer steroid receptors in the part of the brain which controls behaviour. The signals for "anxiety and depression" eventually disappeared among those rats who were later switched to the all-you-can-eat junk food diet.”
So at the end of the day we are left with what is probably the biggest question surrounding the UK work that linked depression to eating “junk” food. Even if you assume the results of the UK study do show a positive link between high calorie/high fat diets and depression, do people get depressed as a result of eating that diet or do they turn to high fat foods because they are depressed for some other reason? The work by Professor Morris seems to indicate the latter but in fairness it should be kept in mind that Dr. Morris’ work was with rats and not with people and is admittedly preliminary. Also, nobody is recommending that people should switch to a high fat/high calorie diet to avoid depression.
AFIC believes the best answer for better health in general is a balanced and nutritious diet. AFIC provides a resource on balanced diets at
 
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