Leo Sher, M.D.

The British Journal of Psychiatry published a research report suggesting that eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression (1). Researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London examined data on diet among about 3,500 middle-aged civil servants, splitting participants into two types of diet — those who ate a diet largely based on whole foods, which includes lots of fruit, vegetables and fish, and those who ate a mainly processed food diet, such as sweetened desserts, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.

The authors found that participants who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who ate the least whole foods. In comparison, those with the highest consumption of processed food were 58 percent more likely to be depressed five years later than those eating the least amount. The authors concluded that a processed food dietary pattern is a risk factor for depression 5 years later, whereas a whole food pattern is protective.

1. Akbaraly TN, Brunner EJ, Ferrie JE, Marmot MG, Kivimaki M, Singh-Manoux A. Dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in middle age. Br J Psychiatry. 2009;195(5):408-13.