A study led by scientists from two Spanish universities has revealed a link between a diet based on fast food and the risk of suffering from depressive states. The research has been published in the journal Public Health Nutrition .
Industrial buns, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza … As explained by one of the authors of the study, Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, to the scientific news agency SINC , “the more fast food is consumed, the greater the risk of depression”, which indicates not only a qualitative but also a quantitative link . And in fact, according to the data managed by scientists, those who consume fast food have an increased risk of developing depression of 51 percent greater than those who do not eat this type of food.
There have been two studies that have certified this link . In a first analysis published last year in the journal PLoS One, 12,059 people were analyzed over six years, quantifying an increase in the risk of depression of 42 percent. In this new study carried out on 8,964 people who had never had depression, within the University of Navarra Follow-up project, the results have been even more extreme. As the results indicate among all the participants in the analysis, after an average of six years, 493 were diagnosed with depression or started taking antidepressants. Or what is the same, an increase of 51 percent compared to those who did not eat fast food.
According to the analysis, those who ate more industrial pastries and fast food are more likely to be single, be less active and have a “worse dietary pattern” point out from SINC. In addition, according to the researchers, tobacco use and increased workload were other prominent characteristics of people who consumed more of this type of food.
Faced with these alarming data, Professor Sánchez-Villegas, from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria is blunt “although more studies are necessary, the consumption of this type of food should be controlled due to its implication in health, both physical and mental” .
