Eating Refined Carbs and Junk Food Increases Depression Risk

Avoiding high-glycemic foods like white bread, cakes, chips, and candy, and eating well, may treat and prevent mood swings and depression. Learn more here.

Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. In any given year, more than 8 percent of American adults have a major episode, a figure that jumps to 17 percent of adults 18 to 25 and 17 percent of those ages 12 to 17, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Persistent feelings of sadness and pessimism can interfere with your work and relationships. Treating depression tends to require more than one approach, which might include psychotherapy, exercise, and medication. Diet may make a difference, too.

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How food affects your mood

Food affects several body systems, which together may drag your mood down.

Let’s start with your gut microbiome, a complex ecosystem of trillions of bacteria. Your brain gets a steady flow of information from your GI tract, and an imbalance in your gut bacteria can lead to chronic low-grade inflammation. It can also slow the production of new brain cells. Both inflammation and slowed neurogenesis are factors in depression.   

An entire field called nutritional psychiatry has emerged. Its clearest research conclusion is that a high-quality diet is linked with a lower risk of depression over time.

For example, you may have heard that the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fish and vegetables, is good for heart health. It also turns out to be linked to a lower risk of depression in teens, based on an analysis of nearly 120 scientific papers.

Another study found that a postmenopausal woman is more likely to become depressed if she eats lots of refined carbs like white bread or rice, even if she previously hasn’t had depression. The so-called “white foods” are similar to sweets, causing a rapid surge of blood glucose levels after you eat them.

High-fiber foods like beans, yams, and nuts, considered low-glycemic, are digested more slowly and have a low glycemic index.  

The rapid surge in blood glucose, which you experience as a “sugar high,” typically triggers your body to release the hormone insulin to remove excess glucose from your blood and move it into your liver, muscle, and fat storage.

“Unfortunately, it can bring blood sugar down too low,” lead researcher James Gangwisch, PhD, an assistant professor at the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, explained. “Then we can have a stress hormone response in an effort to bring that blood sugar back up, and that stress hormone response can cause symptoms such as anxiety and irritability. When glucose levels to our brain are jeopardized, then we can have difficulty focusing and concentrating, mood and behavioral changes, and hunger.” 

The Columbia research team analyzed data from more than 70,000 postmenopausal women who participated in the National Institutes of Health’s Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, and who were not depressed when the study began. The investigators looked at the women’s diets, focusing on the glycemic index of the foods they consumed and any symptoms of depression. 

Women who ate high-fiber lower-glycemic food had a lower risk of developing depression. 

Other studies looking at the diets of men and younger women also found that higher-glycemic index foods were associated with depression, Gangwisch noted.

“If higher-glycemic index diets increase the risk for depression, then consuming a lower-glycemic index diet could lower your risk for depression and could potentially be a treatment for depression,” he concluded. 

If you are suffering from depression and find yourself eating a lot of sweets and refined carbs, that’s understandable. Eating those foods can make you feel better momentarily, making it difficult to stop consuming them. Some researchers think that people who eat too much junk food may have fewer brain receptors for dopamine, the pleasure chemical. So, they overdo it to get the pleasure other people can derive from smaller portions.

Whatever the underlying cause, eating too much junk sets off a cycle in your body that ultimately doesn’t serve you well.

You may need to learn your trigger foods and commit to keeping them out of your home. Avoiding temptation is one of the best ways to change your patterns. Keep high-fiber foods like apples or nuts handy so you don’t get too hungry.    

“Putting the effort into trying to give them up and to replace those foods with more healthy alternatives can potentially pay dividends in terms of how you feel and your mood,” Gangwisch said.

The case for the Mediterranean diet

To increase your chances of staying emotionally stable, research suggests that the Mediterranean diet is your best bet. That’s true not just for teens. In a study of more than 49,000 Swedish women in their 30s and 40s, volunteers who stuck closely to the Mediterranean diet were less likely, on average, to have depression over the next 20 years. The result grew stronger with increasing age.

Try eating grilled salmon, lentil soup, eggplant dip, hummus, and sardines on toast —foods associated with the rich cuisines of the countries around the Mediterranean: Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and southern France. You’ll favor fish over chicken and red meat. Many of your meals will be entirely plant-based, with legumes like chickpeas filling you up.

The approach seems to help with weight control as well, according to a 12-year study of more than 30,000 people living in Italy. You don’t need to avoid all fat. Instead, you’ll favor fat from rich fish, olive oil, and nuts.

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