Sometimes, the worst of moods are remedied by the worst of foods. The home-wrecking force that is the scientific community, however, may have something to say about this–and it’s not good. According to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a few sugars have been found to contribute to the perpetuation of various depressive disorders. Could junk food really alter the chemicals within our brain for the worst? Could added sugars really contribute to a state of sadness? According to James E. Gangwisch, PhD, and his findings, it may be a good idea to alter your diet if it is characterized by a high glycemic index.
James E. Gangwisch and his team of researches compiled various sets of data in a meta-analysis in order to parse through the question: Can sweets make us depressed? One of the most interesting sources that Gangwisch drew from was a study taken involving nearly 70,000 women, none of whom suffered from any sort of depression before the study’s beginning in 1994. Over the course of a decade, the diets of these women were recorded once every few months. Every few months, a questionnaire would be sent out to the participants of a study, and, every few months, loads of data concerning their diets were provided. Women with diets on the higher end of the glycemic index tended to suffer, experiencing greater odds of developing some sort of depressive disorder.
Overall, the study analyzed by Gangwisch displayed insufficient evidence in order to elucidate any sort of mechanism that may be responsible for the development of depressive disorders in response to a high glycemic diet. What’s more, various other studies conducted, and later analyzed by Gangwisch, display the protective effects of foods high in sugar yet low on the glycemic index–foods that contain natural, total sugars such as whole fruits, and lactose.
Is it rational to alter your diet to include fewer sweets high on the glycemic index? One should hope so. Foods rich in added sugars often carry little in the way of nutritional benefit, and, in addition to possibly being related to some sort of mechanism that brings about a depressive disorder, have an overall negative impact upon the body. Avoiding foods that might lead to depression will, invariably, also aid in avoiding the development of afflictions such as type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, perhaps avoiding the development of such awful an personal afflictions may, in a sense, help to avoid the development of a depressive disorder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar
http://time.com/3939974/sugar-junk-food-depression/
http://asp.cumc.columbia.edu/facdb/profile_list.asp?uni=jeg64&DepAffil=Psychiatry
http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/glycemic-index