Breaking: Junk Food, Fast Food Proven to Cause Depression

According to recent research conducted by scientists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada, both junk food and fast food consumption ignites depression. In fact, the study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, shows that those consuming fast food are 51 percent more likely to be depressed than those consuming very little or none of the health-damaging food. What’s more, depression risk was found to increase with the more fast food and junk food consumed.

Fast Food, Baked Goods Shown to Increase Risk for Depression

The study sample involved 8,964 participants, all of whom have never been diagnosed with depression and have never taken any medication for depression. After a six month assessment, 493 became diagnosed with depression or began taking antidepressant medications — which have previously been shown to actually make depression even worse. The current results support what the SUN project, a lifestyle tracking program, have found in 2011 where a 42 percent increase in depression risk was found with those consuming fast food. Additionally, the increase in depression risk was just as high with the consumption of baked goods and junk food.

The research adds further evidence as to why everyone should avoid fast food at all costs. Representing some of the lowest-quality food on planet earth, fast food is loaded with health-wrecking ingredients, while the food itself is cooked in the most unhealthy manner possible. The meat used is conventional, and thus loaded with antibiotics, growth hormones, and up until recently was loaded with ammonia-treated ‘pink slime’ scrap meat.

Of course depression is not the only problem that can arise from fast food and junk food consumption, although the findings are very concerning. While many individuals may not realize is these foods have actually been shown to trigger extreme addiction and brain damage. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that junk food has a brain-altering effect which makes you eat more of it. High-fat processed food consumption causes damage to the hypothalmus part of your brain – an area responsible for levels of hunger, thirst, and the body’s natural rhythms and cycles.

With fast food and junk food shown to cause depression, obesity, and countless other health problems, it is time for people to re-evaluate their eating habits and make overall lifestyle changes.