Boca Raton, Florida — Eating ultra-processed foods may be the cause behind many cases of anxiety and depression, a new study explains. It says it has found a relationship between eating too much junk food and symptoms that negatively affect mental health.
“Ultra-processed” is another way of saying that these products are typically manufactured and ready to eat when removed from the packaging. They are generally convenient, inexpensive, quick to prepare, and consist of industrial formulations of oils, fats, sugars, starches, and protein isolates. Additives are often included as well. What is not included are whole foods and nutrition.
Common examples of these products include sugary drinks such as soda, fast food, potato chips, candy, sugar-filled pastries, and processed meats such as hamburgers and sausages.
The researchers say there have been previous studies that found a link between ultra-processed food consumption and depression, but they looked at the total number of bad mental health days people experienced eating junk food. Few reports. A new study looked at whether consuming ultra-processed foods increased the number of days of mentally unhealthy health in a representative sample of U.S. adults.
The team measured cases of mild depression, days of poor mental health, and days of anxiety in 10,359 adults age 18 and older who participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Survey.
Junk food brings more ‘anxious’ days
They found that Americans who ate the most ultra-processed foods had significantly more mentally unhealthy and anxious days than those who generally avoided these foods. reported.
Those who ate junk food regularly were also much less likely to have zero mentally unhealthy days and zero anxious days. I believe it applies not only to those who live there, but also to those living in other “Western” countries who share similar diets.
“Because ultra-processed foods tend to be high in sugar, saturated fat, and salt while being low in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, ultra-processing a food depletes its nutritional value and increases its calorie content.” number,” said corresponding author Eric Hecht, M.D., Ph.D., an affiliated associate professor at FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine, said in a university release.
“More than 70% of packaged foods in the U.S. are classified as ultra-processed foods, which account for approximately 60% of all calories consumed by Americans. Our study has important clinical and public health implications.”
The study authors point out that they used the NOVA food classification during the study. This system was recently adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. NOVA examines the nature, extent and purpose of food processing before classifying foods and beverages into four groups: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed food ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods.
Findings will appear in the journal public health nutrition.
