The food we eat affects us in many ways. A recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found a link between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and an increase in the risk of depression. Ali Rogin speaks with Olivia Okereke, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who worked on the study, to learn more.
This study is going to lead to tons of wowthanksimcured advice for depressed people so I just want to state to anyone out there listening:
My most severe period of depression as an adult happened during a time where I was eating healthfully (almost no processed foods) and doing 5+ days per week of moderate-to-heavy exercise. I didn’t drink or use drugs during that time either. It came on after 9 months of consistency and I powered through two more months, consistently eating right and exercising before it overwhelmed me.
It’s super unhelpful to suggest eating right and exercising to a depressed person if you’re not their licensed medical or mental health caregiver.
The point is that that ultra-processed or unhealthy foods increase the risk for depression in the general public. I get it’s not helpful or correct to tell a person who’s actively depressed to exercise and eat right so they feel less depressed, but exercising, eating right, and getting enough sleep has been the first recommendation doctors and therapists will give to someone seeking a longer-term improvement in their mood for a long time.
I should add that I’m a mental health professional, and in my anecdotal experience, there are different “types” of depression, even if they all meet criteria for MDD. Some people fall into a chasm due to their brain chemistry, and only meds, ECT, TMS, time, or a combination of these will get them out. Sounds like this may be what you experienced. Others (I would say the majority of those diagnosed with depression who land in the hospital) have a more low level depression that can absolutely be improved with lifestyle changes and/or psychotherapy. Point being, I still think this is helpful information for a large segment of those experiencing depression.
No, the point is that there is a correlation between eating processed foods and developing “incident depression” over a 15 year period in mostly white populations of middle-aged women.
The study doesn’t say what you’re already claiming it does because of a headline, and that is what leads to very unhealthy advice given.
The negative mood effects of unhealthy lifestyle choices are well established and not arguable. I’m not making that statement on this study, but rather the entire body of literature showing this to be the case.
This is you, making a false statement that is about the study OP posted, not general “not arguable” bodies of knowledge.
This is harmful, not helpful.
Edit: for those downvoting me, the quote from the person before me is NOT based on decades of non arguable research. It is only based on their opinions, biases, and the headline OP posted.
The study we are discussing opening paragraph says the following:
Unless this random internet person knows more than these researchers, then I’d say that this person is doing the exact harmful thing I was trying to prevent.
Ok, I’ll say it again. The negative mood effects of unhealthy lifestyle choices are well established and not arguable. I’m not making that statement on this study, but rather the entire body of literature showing this to be the case. Sorry there was a misunderstanding.
They’re established to be linked to incidental depression, not clinical. It may help SOME people get out of a tailspin, but those with clinical/chronic depression will not experience the benefits of ‘healthier lifestyle choices’.
Healthy lifestyle choices reduce the incidence of depression at the population level.
Yes. This is not a cure all, but will indeed reduce (but not purge) situational depression among the populace. I did not disagree with you, I added nuance; no need to repeat your statement.
If you’re not talking about the study, why did you quote the headline almost word for word?
Then go edit your post to remove the statement that contradicts what you’re saying now.
What I am trying to do is to prevent people from reading the headline and making the false statement that you then made based off of it and using that to try and give advice about diet and exercise to people with clinical depression.
You need to work on your reading comprehension. They clearly state that the claim they’re making is based of decades of research, not simply this headline.
The statement they made, which I quoted, IS NOT BASED ON DECADES OF RESEARCH! It is based on their assumptions and the headline in this article.
The study we are talking about makes it very clear in its first paragraph that there has been little-to-no prior research on the effects of processed foods and depression.
It is literally the justification for this specific study having been done at all.
This study only involved middle-aged white women (95% of participants) who didn’t suffer from depression at the start of the study. It measured incident depression over the course of 15 years and correlated that with various processed food categories.
That person making the statement that processed foods increase the chance of depression in the general public is doing exactly what I was trying to get people to not do, which is turn this headline into false assumptions and unhelpful advice about general depression.
I hate these reddit moments.