2023-10-15 07:36:27
The amount of industrial food we consume every day has a huge impact. This type of diet creates an energy overload that fuels chronic inflammation and alters the gut microbiota
The large consumption of ultra-processed foods favors the onset of depression. These are foods that undergo a lot of processing by the food industry before arriving on our tables: fast food, ready meals, snacks, sugary drinks (including light ones)… the so-called junk food.
The association between processed foods and depression was highlighted by a study published at the end of September in the scientific journal Jama by an American team from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
The scientists examined data from the Nurses’ Health Study II: the cohort included 31,712 women aged between 42 and 62 without an initial diagnosis of depression. Their diet was assessed using food frequency questionnaires every 4 years and the data was analyzed from 2003 to 2017. For cases of depression, two definitions were considered: a broader one and a more rigorous one, which required the diagnosis of a specialist and regular use of antidepressants. Finally, participants were divided into five groups based on the frequency of consumption of ultra-processed foods: less than 4 servings per day, 4 to 5, 5 to 6, 6 to 8, more than 8. Ultra-processed foods were divided into distinct categories: artificially sweetened drinks, artificial sweeteners, sweet snacks, frozen foods, savory snacks, breakfast products (cereals and other), ready meals based on meat, condiments (such as sauces), desserts based on dairy products, sugary drinks. Statistical analyzes were also performed on a general group called UPF (Ultraprocessed Foods) which included the sum of all categories.
At the end of the survey, 2,122 cases of depression were identified according to the more rigorous definition and 4,840 cases using the broader definition. It was highlighted that people who consumed more than 8 portions of ultra-processed foods per day had a greater risk of depression than those who consumed less than 4 (group in the lowest quintile).
Subsequently the scientists examined only people in the fifth group (women who consumed more than 8 servings) and compared the association of specific foods with the risk of depression. Only artificially sweetened drinks and artificial sweeteners were associated with a greater risk of depression (which increased when the foods were added together).
Finally, it was seen that for those who decided to reduce their intake of processed foods to less than 4 portions a day, the risk of depression was reduced compared to those who had not changed their eating habits over the years.
Until now, ultra-processed foods have been linked to practically all chronic physical diseases in the Western world (cardiovascular, type 2 diabetes, tumors and others), now there is a fact that also concerns the psychological side: The very interesting study — comments Stefano Erzegovesi, nutritionist and psychiatrist – and it must lead us to a more general reflection: we must start thinking that our brain is exactly like our heart or our arteries: it is greatly affected by what we eat.
The authors of the study do not make any claims about the mechanism that associates ultra-processed foods with depression. It is not known, but recent experimental data suggest, for artificial sweeteners, a mechanism of action mediated by the modification of the microbiota and chronic low-grade inflammation. : chronic neuroinflammation could lead to a lower availability of neurotransmitters useful for mood regulation.
How do processed foods affect the onset of depression?
Ultra-processed food by its nature creates an energy overload at the level of any cell, even the cells of the central nervous system – explains the expert -. The energy density is high because they are foods without fiber and antioxidants, but rich in rapidly assimilable calories, additives, preservatives, emulsifiers and stabilizers. In practice, the cells receive a lot of energy (understood as glucose, sugar, ed.) too quickly and the mitochondrial system goes into crisis: more free radicals are produced and therefore more chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is a condition of continuous alert that can persist silently within our body. The cells of the immune system support it. certainly related to the most widespread diseases in the Western world: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke), tumors, neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s), osteoporosis. It is also present in psoriasis and atopic dermatitis and there have long been hypotheses relating it to depression, aging and greater mortality in the elderly.
Does inflammation actually favor the onset of depression?
The most significant data that correlate nutrition and depression have to do with neuroinflammation – confirms Erzegovesi -. We imagine our brain as a kind of free zone super protected by the blood-brain barrier, in reality the component of the brain’s support and nourishment tissue, i.e. the glia, is very sensitive to the circulating levels of inflammatory mediators and therefore, to all intents and purposes, a organism sensitive to what we eat, like the rest of the body.
Why, among all ultra-processed foods, are light drinks (with artificial sweeteners) the worst for the risk analyzed in this study, after all processed foods combined?
The drink, due to the fact that it is liquid, is absorbed too quickly – observes the specialist -. In the case of sugary drinks, too much glucose reaches the cells, which are unable to process it and “overload”. When we talk about artificial sweeteners, which however do not contain sugar, the mechanism may concern the composition of the microbiota. Artificial sweeteners change the microbiota, which, in turn, affects the brain directly, since the vagus nerve a kind of highway that connects the intestine to the brain. The microbiota is certainly affected by sweeteners and all the additives, preservatives and stabilizers found in processed foods.
The study found that reducing portions of processed foods to less than 4 also reduces the risk of depression. How should we do this?
The highest risk factor is represented by the sum of all processed foods, therefore the quantity of portions is the strongest variable that increases the risk. “the dose that makes the poison”, that is, the ultra-processed food is not in itself “depressogenic”. You don’t have to completely eliminate “junk food” from your life, but limit it a lot. In our daily diet there are pre-cooked dishes, snacks from vending machines, meat ready to be heated… it takes a moment to reach four portions a day, given the food that is continually offered to us in supermarkets or in advertisements, but we must understand that some habits increase the risk of depression, as well as the most widespread chronic diseases in the Western world, including degenerative ones, such as Alzheimer’s, concludes the expert.
October 15, 2023 (changed October 15, 2023 | 07:35)
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