At risk for depression? It’s not a mind over matter issue anymore, according to researchers from Harvard University–it may have to do with your diet.
Published in the latest issue of the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, their newest study reveals that women who ate foods that increased inflammation were 41 percent more likely to develop clinical depression.
Researchers initially made this discovery after giving middle to senior aged women a food frequency questionnaire.
“We used a strict definition of depression that required both self-reported physician-diagnosed depression and use of antidepressants, and a broader definition that included women who reported either clinical diagnosis or antidepressant use,” says the researchers of the study in a written statement. “The inflammatory dietary pattern is associated with a higher depression risk. This finding suggests that chronic inflammation may underlie the association between diet and depression.”
The Study’s Findings About Depression
In the study, which began in 1996, researchers recruited over 43,000 women between the ages of 50 to 77 who did not have depression. They then gave the women a set of food frequency questionnaires to see what they ate more frequently between 1996 and 2008.
At the end of the study, around 2,600 women developed depression, based on its strict definition.
And the correlation? Researchers found that women who ate more foods linked to inflammation, such as pasta, red meat, and bagels, were over 40 percent more likely to develop clinical depression.
On the other hand, women who opted for healthier choices, such as green leafy vegetables and olive oil, were less likely to feel depressed.
“The inflammation-linked diet consumed by the women in the study included lots of refined grains–including bagels, pasta and white rice–as well as soft drinks, red meat and margarine,” says Michel Lucas, Ph.D., a researcher from the Harvard School of Public Health. “This diet was also low in wine, coffee, olive oil and green leafy and yellow vegetables.”
However, Lucas says that no single food is responsible for raising a woman’s depression risk. Instead, he says it’s the quality of a person’s entire diet that matters more, as a bad diet is more likely to lead to negative health outcomes than, say, enjoying a bowl of pasta a few times a week.
“No one single food–like pasta–will, on its own, raise depression risk through inflammatory measures,” says Lucas. “Rather, it’s necessary to look at the whole diet, since all these food or nutrient are tied together.”
As what this means for you, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should keep inflammation-causing food such as pasta and red meat out of your diet–you just need to keep it in moderation. Eating red meat or pasta once in a while wasn’t considered a significant risk factor for depression in the study, but constantly eating them while neglecting your vegetable and good fat intake isn’t a good idea.
Case in point? Just eat a healthy diet–if you do so, you shouldn’t be eating too many processed foods or red meat anyway.
Readers: How do you keep your diet healthy?
Sources:
Study: Inflammation Foods Raise Depression Risk – ScienceDirect.com
Inflammation Diet Increases Women’s Risk of Depression – HuffingtonPost.com
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