Discover the Alarming Connection: Ultra-processed Foods Tied to Increased Depression Risk – Recent Study Unveils

Consuming large amounts of ultra-processed food, especially drinks containing artificial sweeteners, is associated with a higher risk of depression,
research has found.

Despite extensive data linking ultra-processed food with physical ill health, such as strokes, heart attacks, and raised blood pressure, this is the first large study to suggest that consuming ultra-processed foods and drinks, particularly those that include artificial sweeteners, could increase the instance of depression.

Using data from one of
the biggest studies of women’s long-term health in the US, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School examined the diets and mental health of over 30,000 primarily white middle-aged women between 2003 and 2017 who did not already have depression.

The authors estimated the overall extent of ultra-processed food intake as well as the type of food, such as ultra-processed grain foods, sweet snacks, ready-to-eat meals, fats and sauces, ultra-processed dairy products, savory snacks, processed meat, beverages, and artificial sweeteners.

They then compared the number of women who developed depression with their consumption of ultra-processed food. After adjusting for other health, lifestyle, and socioeconomic risk factors for depression, the research, published in the US journal JAMA Network Open, found that those who consumed nine or more portions of ultra-processed foods a day had a 49% increased risk of depression compared to those who consumed fewer than four portions a day.

Additionally, those who reduced their intake of ultra-processed food by at least three servings a day had a lower risk of depression compared to those with a relatively stable intake.

“These findings suggest that a higher intake of ultra-processed foods, particularly those containing artificial sweeteners and artificially sweetened beverages, is associated with an increased risk of depression,” concluded the authors.

“Experimental studies have shown that artificial sweeteners may trigger the transmission of particular signaling molecules in the brain that are important for mood.”

Responding to the findings, Keith Frayn, emeritus professor of human metabolism at the University of Oxford, said: “The relationship between artificial sweeteners and depression is clear. This adds to growing concerns about artificial sweeteners and cardiometabolic health. The link with depression needs confirmation and further research to suggest how it might be brought about.”