Processed food link to depression

[snopes]

A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to research.

Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091102...healthresearch

[TripleAAA]

I believe it. I was on Weight Watchers recently, and lost 15 pounds. Unfortunately, I was mostly eating the Smart Ones/Lean Cuisine frozen dinners. A few weeks ago, I began having severe symptoms of depression. My doctor suggested I stop the diet for a few weeks. In addition to light therapy (my depression seems to onset at dusk), I felt much better almost immediately. Now I'll be seeing a nutritionist before and during my next diet start.

[bjohn13]

I find it hard to believe that this is a "new" finding.

It's been four years since I was first diagnosed with severe depression, and my LCSW way back then recommended that I stop eating processed foods and add fresh fruits and vegetables to my diet.

[Sister Ray]

Originally Posted by bjohn13

I find it hard to believe that this is a "new" finding.

It's been four years since I was first diagnosed with severe depression, and my LCSW way back then recommended that I stop eating processed foods and add fresh fruits and vegetables to my diet.

On the other hand, I dread hearing someone tell me if I just eat more vegetables and fish I'll be cured of my depression. I don't eat fish a lot because it is expensive (I adore fish, though) but I do eat fruits and veggies every day.

Sister "I think if there was some sort of magical cure like that I'd have found it by now" Ray

[Steve Eisenberg]

The full article is not on the open internet, but a long abstract is here:

Dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in middle age

Based on the above link and information on the study this is taken from, I have these problems:

1. Statistical significance is borderline.

2. Here's my hypothesis: Happy people will tend to report that they eat what is deemed healthily by conventional wisdom, while depressed ones will be more likely to see their diet as bad. If so, the cause and effect runs the opposite of what is claimed. They need to:

a. Limit analysis to people whose diet changed

b. Show that diet changed before mood did

It appears to me that their data would allow posing of these questions in at least a partial manner. Does anyone know if they did this analysis?

[snapdragonfly]

Processed foods are lacking in many micronutrients and phytochemicals.

If good nutrition is important to proper body functions, and I am aware of no credible source who does not believe so, then it stands to reason that a diet lacking in a full spectrum of nutrients could contribute to less than optimal health, including mental health.

I really don't see what is so hard to believe about that. I guess they could do a study proving the obvious, because what harm could it do, but I don't need one to make me suspect that a diet of low nutritional quality highly processed foods (which most of them consist mostly of corn, fat, sugar, salt, wheat, and some by products along with a lot of additives) could contribute to quite a number of problems.

It may not be the primary cause of all disease, but it would certainly be a contributing factor for much of it, and also, one can be free of a disease, technically, and still not be anywhere near optimal good health.

[Ana Ng]

Originally Posted by Sister Ray

On the other hand, I dread hearing someone tell me if I just eat more vegetables and fish I'll be cured of my depression. I don't eat fish a lot because it is expensive (I adore fish, though) but I do eat fruits and veggies every day.

My family seems to think that my housing issues will be cured if I purchase a house and charge someone else rent instead of paying rent to someone else. And of course, when my mom says that I want to smack her because if I could afford a house, of course I'd buy one.

But you not being able to afford fish and me not being able to afford a house don't negate the benefits of owning fish or houses.

Sister "I think if there was some sort of magical cure like that I'd have found it by now" Ray

I don't think anyone telling you that would say it's a magical cure, merely that omega-3s are good for brain health.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by Sister Ray

On the other hand, I dread hearing someone tell me if I just eat more vegetables and fish I'll be cured of my depression. I don't eat fish a lot because it is expensive (I adore fish, though) but I do eat fruits and veggies every day.

Sister "I think if there was some sort of magical cure like that I'd have found it by now" Ray

To be fair to my therapist, who I believe is very good at her occupation, diet and sunlight were only a small part of what she recommended I do. She recommended fish, but I can't stand fish. So I compromised by taking an omega-3 supplement. She also said that the best way to cure depression was to get to the root of what was causing it, which is what the therapy was for. When, after a few EMDR treatments, I started getting worse (extremely suicidal), she referred me to a psychiatrist to start me on ant-depressents.

I'm still on the anti-depressents even though my therapist has said that she has helped me through most of what was really causing problems in my life. However, I know that my depression isn't cured because I still have occasional bouts of intense grief for no apparent reason. Oddly enough, these bouts usually happen in the middle of the night, which lead me to believe that they are related to dreams I am having. Since my anti-depressents lead to some extremely wicked dreams that I remember vividly (and might I add that I LOVE those dreams), I don't remember the depression-related dreams. The concensus of my LCSW and psychiatrist is that there is probably some trauma I am still blocking out that I dream about on a semi-regular basis, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

[Steve Eisenberg]

Originally Posted by snapdragonfly

If good nutrition is important to proper body functions, and I am aware of no credible source who does not believe so, then it stands to reason that a diet lacking in a full spectrum of nutrients could contribute to less than optimal health, including mental health.

If good fresh blood is important to proper body function, and I am aware of no credible source who does not believe so, then it stands to reason that when body functions are working poorly, your medical care provider should bleed off a good portion of your existing blood, so that your body will product fresh white and red blood cells.

Unfair, because today we are wiser than people who lived in the past? Of course, I think not. The physicians who for millennia put bleeding and purging at the front of their toolkit were not at all stupid. They rather were under the misapprehension that logical deduction is a good way to discern medical truth.

[snapdragonfly]

Originally Posted by Steve Eisenberg

If good fresh blood is important to proper body function, and I am aware of no credible source who does not believe so, then it stands to reason that when body functions are working poorly, your medical care provider should bleed off a good portion of your existing blood, so that your body will product fresh white and red blood cells.

Unfair, because today we are wiser than people who lived in the past? Of course, I think not. The physicians who for millennia put bleeding and purging at the front of their toolkit were not at all stupid. They rather were under the misapprehension that logical deduction is a good way to discern medical truth.

I don't understand what your point has to do with my post.

[Sister Ray]

Originally Posted by snapdragonfly

I don't understand what your point has to do with my post.

I think he's saying that it isn't a forgone conclusion that diet is linked to mental health. I would assume people in third world countries don't get enough nutrients in many occasions, but they don't have a higher rate of mental problems than first world countries do.

Sister "it's rarely that simple" Ray

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by Sister Ray

I think he's saying that it isn't a forgone conclusion that diet is linked to mental health. I would assume people in third world countries don't get enough nutrients in many occasions, but they don't have a higher rate of mental problems than first world countries do.

I don't know if we can make any kind of conclusion about the rate of mental problems in third world countries.

[Ana Ng]

Originally Posted by bjohn13

I don't know if we can make any kind of conclusion about the rate of mental problems in third world countries.

What's the frequency of clinical depression in Burkina Faso?

[DemonWolf]

But is it a cause or a symptom? Many processed foods are none too healthy, so it could be a chemical issue with the food itself causing the depression. It could be that fresh food tastes better, as well as has healthy values, so a person on a healthy diet gets more satisfaction from food.

Or it could be that a person with depression does not really have the energy to make a meal from scratch and chooses the more processed and pre-packaged choices because they are easier to make.

[bthyb]

Originally Posted by Steve Eisenberg

The full article is not on the open internet, but a long abstract is here:

Dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in middle age

Based on the above link and information on the study this is taken from, I have these problems:

1. Statistical significance is borderline.

How so? 95% significance is not borderline.

2. Here's my hypothesis: Happy people will tend to report that they eat what is deemed healthily by conventional wisdom, while depressed ones will be more likely to see their diet as bad. If so, the cause and effect runs the opposite of what is claimed. They need to:

a. Limit analysis to people whose diet changed

b. Show that diet changed before mood did

It appears to me that their data would allow posing of these questions in at least a partial manner. Does anyone know if they did this analysis?

I like your hypothesis but I don't see how it is testable with the data given. I'm not even seeing questions about junk food in the survey you posted to begin with - am I overlooking them?

Your proposed study would examine causation, and would be hard to do with just one survey; especially one like this that doesn't ask for specific dates of events occuring. The other option would be tofollow people over time and collect data at 2 or more time points.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by Ana Ng

What's the frequency of clinical depression in Burkina Faso?

How many facilities exist in Burkina Faso to detect clinical depression? How understanding is the society in Burkina Faso to clinical depression? In other words...how many people live with clinical depression in Burkina Faso without being aware of it?

I lived with clinical depression for about 30 years without being aware of it, and I live right here in the enlightened good ol' US of A.