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The Diet That Causes Depression (M)

The Diet That Causes Depression (M) post image

This type of food is linked to developing depression.

A high-fat diet can cause depression, research reveals.

The fatty acids enter the brain through the bloodstream and accumulate in the hypothalamus.

There they affect critical brain signals that are linked to depression.

It helps to explain why scientists have found that depression and obesity are often seen together.

For the study, mice were fed a high-fat diet, made up of 60 percent saturated and unsaturated fats.

The results showed that the mice began to demonstrate depressive behaviour after three weeks.

Professor George Baillie, who led the study, said:




Examination of their brains revealed that the fats had built up in the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus is an area of the brain that causes levels of cortisol — the ‘stress hormone’ — to rise in the body.

Normally the hormone reduces once a threat passes, but in people with depression, their cortisol levels can remain high.

Higher levels of cortisol are linked to depression.

This may help to explain why people who are obese do not respond as well to antidepressant medication.

Professor Baillie continued:



The study was published in the journal Translational Psychiatry (Vagena et al., 2019).


