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Subscribe to RSSA case of the sads is often best addressed with a bowl of ice cream, a bag of Cheetos or whatever is the comfort food of your choice. Now, a new study shows that eating junk food is linked to depression. We spot a potential vicious cycle.
It seems the more trans fats you eat, the higher your risk of depression. Spanish researchers analyzed the diets, lifestyles and physical ills of 12,059 volunteers over six years -- before, during and after the study. At the start of the project, none of the volunteers suffered from depression, but at the end, 657 new cases had appeared. And of those new cases, the volunteers who ate more trans fats had a 48 percent increase in the risk of depression, when compared to the volunteers who didn't eat trans fats.
"I think (the) general population is informed regarding the association between diet and several physical diseases such as ... heart disease or obesity," says Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, lead author of the report and an associate professor of preventive medicine and public health at Spain's University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. "Nevertheless, there are not enough data regarding the hypothetical role of diet on mental disorders. In fact, only a few epidemiological studies have analyzed this possible association."
What was particularly interesting to Sanchez-Villegas and his team was that the diets of the volunteers actually included fairly low amounts of trans fats, which accounted for only 0.4 percent, on average, of the total energy energy consumed. "So, the repercussion of these results might be really important in other settings where trans fatty acids intake is by far higher (for example, it can be of up to 2.5 percent of total energy intake among the American population)," Sanchez-Villegas says.
But eating olive oil might actually lessen the risk of depression, another finding in the report shows. Consuming more than 20 grams of olive oil a day could reduce the risk of depression 20 to 30 percent, Sanchez-Villegas says.
Of course, the study addressed clinical depression, and not a case of "the blues." But when you're feeling down, do you ever let yourself indulge in your favorite snacks? What's your go-to comfort food?
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Couldn't they have become depressed, then turned to the comfort foods as a result. Doesn't seem terribly scientific.
My thoughts too- classic "correlation does not equal causation"...
Jeez Lonnie. It's not enough that the article depressed me. Now you have to go and get depressingly realistic.
I'm going to eat some spaghetti.
read article. click link within article. read actual study. realize that you're not terribly literate.
Thank you literacy is fundamental. Should we also realize that the first word of a sentence is capitalized?
literacy is fundamental,
You might want to learn some manners. You can disagree without insulting other commenters. Grow up.
As for the actual study, your own literacy is in question if you find it so valuable and fact filled, when it is nothing of the sort. The study doesn't even begin to answer relevant questions in regards to its findings.
For example, it says nothing about how much of an intake the volunteers had. It says nothing about how much, if any weight they gained during the test. It does not say anything about whether it took any outside factors into account.
And the list goes on. Sorry, but this article and the information in its link are sadly lacking in several areas with regards to providing important data.
I understand your frustration lif (related to rif lol?). I think many people type from the hip having barely skimmed the article and not followed any links. Good luck with getting them to improve their reading and comprehension skills.
But back to the subject of the thread : My personal experience convinced me what I was eating was doing me in emotionally as well as physically. I struggle with SAD. I'm not completely debilitated thank God but my energy drops taking productivity with it. So I eat a little something, I'll feel better, right? That depends. If the little (or not so little) something is ice cream I go into a funk that could take days to lift. If I knosh on fruit or veggies, even fancied up, and move, I'm on my way out of the nasties.
Conversely, I can be chugging along fairly well but cave into temptation and eat 1/4 bag of cookies with my tea. That will drop me into a funk.
Pity that medicine gave up being an art. If we had healers who listened to and worked with people we'd be so much better off. Instead we have scientists obsessed with what can be demonstrated in a laboratory while people suffer. People don't live in labs. Listen to the anecdotes.
What a wonderful closing comment! Algorithims dictate treatment instead of talking with a patient. Scientists and physicians are obsessed with the double-blind pacebo-controlled study. We can't take the human out of human beings and that's something they never test. Again, excellent summary.
Beer. Lots of good, dark, German Beer.
AJ- you must be one of them ungodly commies to prefer a good German dark beer over typical american swill like Bug Lite...Sarah Palin would call you an 'elite' or worse.
I suggest you try Yeungling dark! (From the oldest American brewery)
Peace.
"A case of the sads is often best addressed with a bowl of ice cream, a bag of Cheetos or whatever is the comfort food of your choice."
My grandmom must be spinning in her grave. Ice cream and Cheetos are not "comfort food." Comfort food is meatloaf and mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese or potato pancakes or homemade tomato soup with crackers floating in it. What you are describing is nothing but "junk" food. It never did any good for anybody.
Thank you Biloxipat, I could not get through a montana winter without REAL comfort food.
Agreed. I understand ice cream, but Cheetos? What kind of person considers Cheetos (stoner food really) a comfort food? Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, fried chicken, pot roast, bbq, pie.any meat and two veg..now that is comfort food.
It is interseting that they define "Junk Food" as comfort food. A good Stew, a nice split pea soup, or a hearty cassorole is mor my idea of comfort food.
Stouffer's chicken pot pie, baby!
Wine and dark chocolate; both supposedly good for your heart.
In moderation, of course! ;-)
Also (no joke) mostly just for women.
Lol i hope you mean seperately. Both good, but not so sure about mixing em..though I havent tried before.
Beer, but make mine Belgian Trappiste Beer.
Weather is so damn awful already ate 1/2 bag of chips and still looking to graze! I agree though, "correlation, does not = causation". Yes, maybe they became depressed and then started eating the comfort food.
I feel the same way about the antidepressent med. suicide link.......they were depressed, got on meds. committed suicide. Depression may = suicide. Depression and meds. may = suicide. I see the cause as being depression, not medication. And I am one who's gone through bouts of clinical depression...the dark hole.....give me the meds anyday!!!!!!!!!!!
Yuengling is terrific! Yay for Pottsville!
Booze and Spaghetti-Os...not necessarily together.
Can anybody say "San Miguel Beer" Best in the world!
San MAgo dosen't travel well. Gotta drink it in the PIs
Steve, I'm not sure that it was the beer you remember so fondly. Maybe it was the floor show...
I was never on the floor during the show. Or as part of the show. Or even in the show. The San Magoo was good despite the show. Unless you were partial to sliced bananas.
ROFLMAO!!! Steve, you're cracking me up! The only trouble I ever had with San Miguel is that the quality control on the local stuff isn't as good as it is one the export; sometimes you'd get mellow on a six pack, while the next batch might do nothing. And as far as the floor show went, I kind of liked a stack of quarters. A bit more expensive, but quite a sight. And then there was the infamous Fire Empire in downtown Clark...
I don't know but most of the people I know who live off junk food have depressing lives. (Stay inside all day watching tv, have drama in their relationships, are overweight etc.) People who eat healthy foods tend to do outdoor activities, have healthy relationships, are in shape, etc. Sounds perfectly logical to me
People who eat healthy food, have good relationships, and like the outdoors also don't live in food deserts or live off the cheapest food they can find.
Coincidentally, economic situation also has a link to risk of depression...
Hm, I concur devin but not 100%, there are of course exceptions. Alot of people (especially among the socially... challenged) may be in great physical shape simply because excercise is what they do. They might even eat healthy (on a relative scale of budget vs food price) and watch little tv. But they can still be depressed; I honestly believe that personal relationships account for our moods 70% of the time.
Yeow . . . now that sounds like a comment by someone who is an extremist (food, religion, or any of many other types of extremists). My way or the highway.
And then I happened to notice your screenname, devinevegan. That's a clue to me that yes, your way must be the only correct way, for you and apparently for everyone else.
This is not intended as a put down; rather, just an observation. You have every right to believe in what you believe in, including what to me are somewhat extremist views of food and lifestyles.
There are lots of people in my group of family and friends who eat much differently from you, and yet still have very healthy lifestyles, including liking outdoor activities, have healthy relationships, and are in shape.
I hear you . . . sounds perfectly logical to me that you would choose these beliefs. I don't. I think it's up to each person to make those decisions for themselves, and I wouldn't assume that all of those people you know who don't hold your own values live depressing lives. Might look like it from where you stand, but those are not necessarily their views.
We are all different . . . and I choose to respect each persons life choices, yours included, even if I don't agree with them!
That's not what devinevegan said. He's just stating the obvious. I'm not a vegan, but I can tell you have something against them.
when i am depressed i head for the skim milk
if deeply depressed i head for the celery and a spinach salad with clear italian
FAT TIRE from Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins Colorado is the BEST.
You know Belguim Brewery voted best place to work in the intire United States of America
Employee benefits include free samples??
I had 2 prime rib (marbled bigtime) and sharp cheddar grilled in butter sandwiches for lunch with a beer... and I am certainly not feeling depressed. Those freaking drug company depression commercials where the woman says "depression hurts"... now those are depressing and annoying!
Toast with butter AND peanut butter! It's quick, warm, yummy and filling.... :-)
add some honey or banana to that and you got a winner
Give me a big old manhattan on the rocks (extra sweet) and a nice rare steak. Guaranteed to improve my mood expeditiously! Throw in a bag of red twizzlers for dessert, and I'm in heaven.
Actually, I don't ever feel I'm truly depressed, just a little blue occasionally. Unfortunately, almost any of my favorite foods help me feel more cheerful. Since the only time I eat junk food is when I really am out of sorts, I don't see that eating junk food causes depression -- at least for me.
Meat Loaf, brown gravy, mashed potatoes, green peas. Accompanied by a Guinness Stout or Anchor Porter.
Maybe Mike Myer's character 'Fat Bastard' was right? "I eat because I'm unhappy, and I'm unhappy because I eat".
jlo so cal, susan164... & noozprof, so we all agree, I think... depression causes depression... ;-P
I'll take that good ole' Chicago style hot dog, anytime!!!
My wife is such a lousy cook, she uses the smoke detector as a timer.
In our house we pray AFTER we eat.
Even the roaches are anorexic!
I eat because I'm fat and I'm fat because I eat - Eddie Murphey
Sorry but I could have told you that. The more you eat the more sluggish you become giving way to less activities leaves you with more free time on your hand which you spend on thoughts about yourself or your current situation which is more depressing (cause humanity really isn't a bright cheery species, naturally; we generally are paranoid and fearful of the' unknown.) The more depressed you become the more it seems like eating is all you really care to do. Rinse and repeat :P
Twizzlers with prime rib?
Throw the flag. Now -- half a bottle of good scotch with prime rib: the Ditka diet!
If you can't tell, I'm off of sugar for the last four weeks. Except that it's -25 outside and I backslid with a dark chocolate-covered pretzel. Okay, maybe six of them.
It's tough to be good.
Aren't we all supposed to be saying something like:
Oh my GOD!. We need to ban ALL trans fats before we all sink into terrible depression and jump off buildings holding young babie in our arms!!!!
At least, I thaink that's what the editors were hoping.
There IS a correlation between comfort foods and depression...it's from the wheat used in making those products. Cookies, cake, brownies, breads...all use wheat flour, and wheat and wheat by-products are used in nearly all processed foods. Due to this fact, these products all contain gluten, and most of the population can't digest gluten. Our bodies were just not made to digest it. The ensuing reaction causes all kinds of physical and psychological problems...the big problem is that doctors don't have a handle on how to test for gluten sensitivity.
It is becoming a bigger problem because wheat in the US has been genetically modified to have a higher percentage of gluten...gluten is what makes your comfort food "comfy." It makes food moist and chewy instead of dry and tasteless. Unfortunately many people (much of the population of the US) is unable to tolerate it, but it doesn't make you feel bad enough to think something is wrong, and you never attribute it to your food. (Examples are the headaches and/or stomachaches you get occasionally).
Just search non-celiac gluten sensitivity...
The scary thing is now they want to up the amount of whole grains in the schools...non-gluten whole grains would be fine, but it will probably be wheat because it's cheap. It causes irritability and behavior problems, so problems in schools will get worse...
In a day of cold rain staying inside, sometimes I like to indulge in a bowl of clam chowder, or chicken & dumplings. That doesnt depress me. It relaxes me.