Consuming highly refined carbohydrates increases risk of depression

NEW YORK, NY, August 5, 2015 - A diet high in refined carbohydrates may lead to an increased risk for new-onset depression in postmenopausal women, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study by James Gangwisch, PhD and colleagues in the department of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) looked at the dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, types of carbohydrates consumed, and depression in data from more than 70,000 postmenopausal women who participated in the National Institutes of Health's Women's Health Initiative Observational Study between 1994 and 1998.

Consumption of carbohydrates increases blood sugar levels to varying degrees, depending on the type of food ingested. The more highly refined the carbohydrate, the higher its score on the glycemic index (GI) scale. The GI scale, which goes from 0-100, measures the amount of sugar found in the blood after eating. Refined foods such as white bread, white rice, and soda trigger a hormonal response in the body to reduce blood sugar levels. This response may also cause or exacerbate mood changes, fatigue and other symptoms of depression.

The investigators found that progressively higher dietary GI scores and consumption of added sugars and refined grains were associated with increased risk of new-onset depression in post-menopausal women. Greater consumption of dietary fiber, whole grains, vegetables and non-juice fruits was associated with decreased risk. This suggests that dietary interventions could serve as treatments and preventive measures for depression. Further study is needed to examine the potential of this novel option for treatment and prevention, and to see if similar results are found in the broader population.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-08/cumc-chr080515.php

Well that sounds about right to me Yoly.

It then becomes a vicious circle, because if you are depressed you don't have the energy to prepare great food, and carbs particularly processed ones are the easiest to reach for. Easiest, but definitely not the best.

Depression is a very complex health situation with many different manifestations. I believe BG constantly going up and down with wide swings does no one's mood any good. It has now been proven exercise can be better for mild to medium types of depression than almost any medication. Also anti depression drugs have been proved to cause type two diabetes in some people.

Yep and last year I asked for a Vitamin D test which I don't believe was ever done because I have never seen the results on a printout, even though my GP told me my level was' fine'. I recently paid £28 for one to find that I have an insufficiency of Vit D and am almost deficient in it. Grrrr. Maybe I didn't need the anti depressant after all.

Thanks to Yoly the OP ... when reading through the report it did sound good sense to me. I can certainly relate to an improvement of energy levels since going LCHF lifestyle. If you read around other blogs and forums many women (and men) also talk about increased energy levels.

'Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food' - there is a lot to be learned from this.

With regard to risk of depression, this is indeed such a complex subject. It is possible that when eating too much highly processed / carb food, there is more swing between moods, blood sugar levels and energy levels. All I personally can attest to is that since living the LCHF lifestyle (seven years now) I have absolutely no complaints      

...and talking of Vit D, as Zand did, and also reading through other posts on the Forum relating to Vit D ... could it be to the benefit of us all to have Vit D tests? Of course costing may well but a damper on this

All the best Jan

Surely our GP's should be giving us Vit D tests if we ask for them? We are only trying to help ourselves and cause the NHS less problems long term aren't we?

I'm as certain as I can be that my "depression" and mood swings along with my drops in physical energy were closely related to BG, especially the rapid drops occurring 2 - 3 hours after eating carbs when my insulin finally caught up and then failed to shut off. A rapid drop in BG, even when nowhere near to genuine "hypo" levels triggers the body to preempt a hypo by dumping cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine etc. which is the cause of "false hypos" where you get the symptoms at normal or even high BG, and very likely behind depression, anxiety etc.
Used to be when I went on a long walk or did other prolonged exertion I would crash both physically and mentally after a couple of hours, and used to carry sandwiches, chocolate, Kendal Mint Cake, coffee with sugar etc. which I now realise I was using not just to treat a hypo but to overtreat it, leading to another a few hours later.
Now I routinely go 6 - 8 hours and sometimes 9 hours or more without even thinking about eating, even when walking carrying several kilos of photographic gear and my mood is as stable as my energy.

zand wrote:Surely our GP's should be giving us Vit D tests if we ask for them?  We are only trying to help ourselves and cause the NHS less problems long term aren't we?

Sounds good to me Zand, and I think if we do self regulate there could be a slight risk of too much Vit D ?

All the best Jan

Jan1 wrote:

zand wrote:Surely our GP's should be giving us Vit D tests if we ask for them?  We are only trying to help ourselves and cause the NHS less problems long term aren't we?

Sounds good to me Zand, and I think if we do self regulate there could be a slight risk of too much Vit D ?

All the best Jan

Yes there could.:-

less than 15 nmol/L - severe deficiency
15-30 - deficiency
30.1-50 - insufficiency
Greater than 50 - adequate
above 220 - High and increases the risk of vitamin D toxicity

Mine was measured at 31.2nmol/L so I am self supplementing with a spray which contains vit D3 and vit K2. K2 is important because it directs calcium to your skeleton, while preventing it from being deposited where you don't want it -- i.e., your organs, joint spaces, and arteries. A large part of arterial plaque consists of calcium deposits (atherosclerosis), hence the term "hardening of the arteries."

I intend to self supplement for a while and then get another test done to see how I am doing.