The food selections you make do not only affect your physical health, they may also impact your mental well-being. A recent study has found that processed food, especially those with artificial sweeteners, can elevate the chance of depression.

Ultra-processed foods are highly processed food items with additives resembling sugar, salt, fat and artificial colours or preservatives. Although studies have shown links between using ultra-processed food and physical health issues resembling heart attacks, strokes and hypertension, the most recent study is the primary comprehensive research conducted to judge their impact on depression.

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School evaluated the dietary habits of 30,000 women between 2003 and 2017. None of them had any prior diagnosis of depression.

The study assessed the consumption pattern of the participants and identified various ultra-processed foods they used, including food grain, sweet snacks, ready-to-eat meals, fats and sauces, dairy products, savory snacks, processed meat, beverages and artificial sweeteners. In the course of the study, 4840 participants developed depression.

After adjusting socioeconomic status, lifestyle selections and other health-related aspects, researchers found that those that consumed nine or more portions of ultra-processed foods each day had a 49% increased risk of depression in comparison with those that consumed lower than 4 portions a day.

Participants who reduced their consumption of ultra-processed foods by at the least three servings per day had a reduced risk of depression in comparison with those that didn’t change their intake.

While analyzing the particular sorts of ultra-processed foods, artificially sweetened drinks were found to be the category with the best risk.

“These findings suggest that greater UPF (ultra-processed food) intake, particularly artificial sweeteners and artificially sweetened beverages, is related to increased risk of depression,” researchers wrote in a paper published in Jama Network.

“The strength of our study is that we were in a position to assess food plan several years before the onset of depression. This minimizes the likelihood that our findings are simply as a result of individuals with depression being more prone to select ultra-processed foods,” said study co-author Prof. Andrew T. Chan, from Massachusetts General Hospital.

Published by Medicaldaily.com