Junk food is bad for mental health

We have long known junk food is bad for the waistline. In 2012, Spanish researchers added a new worry: it may be bad for the mind too.

A team led by Almudena S\u00e1nchez-Villegas, at the universities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Granada, tracked 8,964 people through Spain's SUN Project \u2014 the University of Navarra's long-running diet and lifestyle cohort \u2014 none of whom had been diagnosed with depression or taken antidepressants at the outset.

Over the follow-up, 493 participants were diagnosed with depression or began taking antidepressants. And the pattern was stark: those who ate the most fast food \u2014 hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza \u2014 were 51 percent more likely to develop depression than those who ate little or none. "The more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression," S\u00e1nchez-Villegas said.

The fast-food-heavy eaters were also more likely to be single and less physically active \u2014 a reminder that diet, mood, and lifestyle travel together, and that association is not quite the same as causation. Still, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, the study added weight to an idea Ayurveda has held for centuries: that what you eat shapes how you feel.

Based on reporting of the S\u00e1nchez-Villegas et al. study, Public Health Nutrition, 2012.

We know it has long been bad for your waistline.

But fast food can also be bad for your mental health, according to a new study.

Eating junk such as as hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza heightens your chance of developing depression.

A study by Spanish scientists has revealed those that revel in eating fast food were 51 per cent more likely to develop depression, compared to those who ate little or none.

The study was undertaken by the universities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Granada, Spain,

'The more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression,' said Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, who led the study, which was printed in the Journal Public Health Nutrition.

As well as the health problems those eating fast food were more likely to be single and less active

The sample under SUN Project (University of Navarra Diet and Lifestyle Tracking Program), comprised 8,964 participants, who had never been diagnosed with depression or taken anti-depressants.

They were assessed for an average of six months and 493 were diagnosed with depression or started to take anti-depressants.

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