Research links depression to processed food

Christian Cable/Flickr

Would you rather eat whatever you want and be depressed or eat a diet composed of heathy, whole foods and be happy? That's how one Englishman breaks down his decision to forego sweets and other processed foods (including that most English of English treats ... biscuits!) in favor of living his life free of depression.

Breaking the cycle of depression could actually be just as easy as that according to a study by University College London, which kept track of the diets and mental health of 3,500 people for five years. Their findings seem to leave no question about the correlation.

After accounting for factors such as gender, age, education, physical activity, smoking habits and chronic diseases, they found a significant difference in future depression risk with the different diets.

Those who ate the most whole foods had a 26% lower risk of future depression than those who at the least whole foods.

By contrast people with a diet high in processed food had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods.