Multiplying food errors does not only affect the scale . It can also disturb the psychic and emotional balance. Researchers from the University of South Carolina (USA) and Queensland (Australia) followed the lifestyle and mental health of 6,438 women over 12 years.
Verdict: Genetics and the events of life (divorce, death of a loved one, unemployment ...) play an important role in fluctuations in mood, but they do not explain everything. Their study, published in August 2016 in the British Journal of Nutrition , proves indeed that other parameters intervene, in particular the composition of our menus .
Meat and cereals: pro-inflammatory foods
Meat products (meat and cold cuts), fries (donuts, french fries ...) and refined cereals (white bread, pasta, industrial cakes ...) are particularly blacklisted. According to the researchers, "their excessive consumption raises the risk of depression by at least 20%!" Not insignificant. How to explain this relationship of cause and effect? All incriminated foods are pro-inflammatory, that is, they induce a state of chronic inflammation in the body. Silent for a few years, it ends up racing when food errors persist. Mediators of inflammation then spread and cause damage to various organs, including the brain.
Bet on fruits and vegetables
But today we know that having a fiery brain is black. In depressed people, the mediators of inflammation is 30% higher than normal in the brain. To remedy this, you should regularly fill your plate with anti-inflammatory foods: fruits and vegetables, olive oil, rapeseed and nuts, seafood and whole grains. According to the American Journal of Psychiatry , an adequate diet would reduce the risk of depression by 40% to 50%.