Do Processed Foods Lead to Depression?

Healthcare Triage is no stranger to dissecting studies about processed foods, but we were recently alerted to a study linking them to depression, and since we haven’t dissected that yet, that’s the topic of this week’s Healthcare Triage.
Related HCT episodes:
1. Food Dyes and Hyperactivity: • Do Food Dyes Make Kids...
2. Artificial Sweeteners and Cancer: • Artificial Sweeteners ...
Be sure to check out our podcast!
• Podcast
Other Healthcare Triage Links:
1. Support the channel on Patreon: vid.io/xqXr
2. Check out our Facebook page: goo.gl/LnOq5z
3. We still have merchandise available at www.hctmerch.com
4. Aaron's book "The Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully" is available wherever books are sold, such as Amazon: amzn.to/2hGvhKw
Credits:
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Tiffany Doherty -- Writer and Script Editor
John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Mark Olsen - Art Director, Producer
Images and Footage
viafilms/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus
SolStock/Creatas Video/Getty Images Plus
PeopleImages/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus
gorodenkoff/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus
antorti/Creatas Video/Getty Images Plus
AlexRaths/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus
LENblR/Creatas Video+/Getty Images Plus
Easy_Company/Creatas Video/Getty Images Plus

[@CDCI3]

Can confirm that my depression is what causes me to feel like I just don't have the energy to make a real meal. Instead, I just throw some shit in the microwave or whatever and go eat it in bed.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤..

[@vcostor]

I love how you describe how studies should be looked at. During these times where headlines rule, being able to look deeper is so helpful. Thank you.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤..

[@teamavatar6460]

me not eating ultra processed food and still depressed 😕

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤..

[@Blahnik1182]

Thanks, Doc, for your no BS approach to data.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@CptPatch]

I've certainly experienced the correlation, but I have significant personal evidence to show that the causality is in the "depression causes junk food" direction for me, the diet curve has always lagged the depression curve and losing weight has been significantly easier since I made life changes to manage some of the problems contributing to my depression. I do think that it is also a reasonable hypothesis that junk food can be part of the self-neglect feedback loop that worsens depression symptoms, but that's a different story.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@donlars1]

This is the healtcare triage I know and love!!❤

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@W9e0e2e3e4pizza]

Thanks for this Aaron!
Its always fascinating to see misleading headlines and how it's nearly always the same statistical issues, so it brings me joy to hear you tear them apart.
Btw is the HTC podcast coming back anytime this year?
I really loved the mini series like the science reproducibility and academia integrity one. I even shared that one with a bunch of my friends who are in academia as we all know the struggles there.

[@healthcaretriage]

LOVE that you loved and shared that series - it's one of our favorites! The podcast is in a bit of a limbo right now but we do hope to do some more cool stuff with it eventually! :) -Tiffany

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@mikeroni]

It seems more likely that depression is leading to higher processed food consumption

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤..

[@dragonbait1]

What is Ultra-Processed?
I assume raw fruits and and veg are Whole Foods. And that things like Oatmeal or cooked meats (like a chicken breast) are probably whole foods for the purposes of this discussion.
Based on the stock footage I guess Pizza is a processed food? I'm sure I've heard hamburgers described that way.
I suppose things like Cheetos and Twinkies and sugary breakfast cereals are "Ultraprocessed"? Where is the lines and the descriptions? What other categories in the spectrum of processing food are there?

[@trevinbeattie4888]

There are no hard lines; it’s more of a spectrum. You might find different definitions, but a couple of guidelines I tend to go by is 1) how much fiber was removed from the original grains or vegetables, assuming those were among the ingredients, and 2) how much sugar was added.

[@LabGecko]

And just a quick thanks for that scientifically minded question 😃

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@ArtArtisian]

Since the comment section is still small, I'm just gonna put an unsolicited topic request here. K? No pressure, but I was wondering.
I've been told that obesity was rarely a thing awhile ago primarily due to malnutrition. I then got thinking about what we decided was a 'mandatory nutrient' and 'recommended dose', and realized I have no good sense of how this was decided. So topic request 1: How did (say) America decide what everybody is *supposed* to be eating (approximately)?
2: Somewhat relatedly, how does vitimin fortification work? I know we do some of this... somewhere... to make sure people get more vitamins. Do we change the mixture much?
3: Do I have the right guess of why obesity rates changed so much? Do the data say anything useful, or is this a mess?
Apologies if I'm forgetting a video that covers any of the above. ty for your time.

[@healthcaretriage]

All great questions! We'll add these to the list of things to look into for potential episodes! :) -Tiffany

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@CG_Hali]

Dr Aaron, taking out the trash on 'breaking news' studies! Here for it! What a stupid study though. Anyone who has had depression or met a depressed person will tell you they have no strenght/will to cook balanced meals. If you've got no energy, choosing the broccoli over that simple bar of chocolate is such a given marketing departments have evolved a whole lot of reliable studies about it!

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@l01230123]

Thanks for coving the topic ☺

[@DavidJamesHenry]

I don't know if processed foods cause me to be depressed, eating many various nutrients make my body feel better, which helps me to recover when I'm in the middle of a depressive episode

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@LunarStarFox]

Me not eating meals/ balanced foods leads to my depression. When I am deep in my depression it’s is VERY difficult/ basically impossible for me to cook a meal. So I wouldn’t say it’s a cause of my depression but a symptom

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@hippiemuslim]

It's a bit depressing that we keep seeing these studies being published without any repercussions for the so-called researchers.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@100maxnochill9]

But what counts as processed food? Are we talking fast food or something like white bread?

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@TheAleatoriorandom]

This really seem super likely to be the other way around, depressed people are very likely to be low on energy and motivation to cook or make healthy choices when we live surrounded by more convent if less healthy tentations. That can apply similarly to people who are overworked or going through rough times in their lives and so feel exhausted and lacking in time. Good points in this video.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@DaveSomething]

I used myfatnesspal daily for nearly 10 years... I actually COULD have recalled my daily intake.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@Andre-qo5ek]

my experience is stress leads me to eat more and worse. nomnomnom and a lot of that stress is financial... so those tight finances also lead to the lack of better foods.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@pattycarljackson]

Short answer is no. Just because something is processed doesn’t make it unhealthy but not all processed food is the same because meat and fish is also processed food and you wouldn’t consider “processed” salmon the same as McDonald’s processed food.

[@FlexxibleFree]

Was gonna ask the definition of processed. This is a very badly posed question

[@matthewzaloudek]

@@FlexxibleFreehuh. It's a shame there isn't a whole writeup of the study explaining what they mean by processed food...

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤

[@MegamanXGold]

I couldn't help but notice that 720p is the highest I can select for this video.

[@LabGecko]

Need to hear the Doc relay the details in full 4K eh? 😁

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@Ratstick58]

The label "processed" I find EXTREMELY unhelpful. It's fairly subjective, and when you press anyone they go, "oh you know what I mean, JUNK FOOD" and then they will eat coconut milk soup that is EXTREMELY caloricly dense or coat salads in hyper caloric oil.
Processed vs unprocessed has too much moral baggage. Foods should isntead be ranked on caloric density vs nutrition and this would stress that all foods are on a gradient and highlight the reasons some hyperpallatable, caloricly dense foods are bad for you.
Personally, I have lost weight with a diet consisting of perogies and sandwiches, all weighed out for caloric accuracy and feel better than ever. Do i try to throw in veg for health? Yes, but it's not really connected to weight loss for me.
I have always found the advice, for anyone looking to lose weight of "just eat lest junk" extremely unhelpful. It obviously didn't help our bold leader here (who, let me be clear, is one of my favorite youtubers), as he had to switch to ozempic to lose weight after doing the whole " eat more whole foods" diet...

[@Praisethesunson]

Depression is definitely the feeling I get after eating the Wendy's double baconator™ with cheese.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@skywise001]

What if you only eat a couple of times a day?

[@courtneypuzzo2502]

unfortunately modern day humans are wired to crave junk food especially at certain times like craving Mac and Cheese on a cold rainy/snowy day or a woman craving red meat/leafy greens during her menstrual cycle due to being anemic because she has a blood clotting disorder such as Von Willebrand's Disease

[@manubhatt3]

If you are referring to one of your earlier episodes, please provide a link in the video or in the Description for it!
I can't see any link to the relative vs absolute risk video you referred to.

[@healthcaretriage]

Sorry about that, here you go! czcams.com/video/eHxaDQNyfV4/video.html :) -Tiffany

[@manubhatt3]

@@healthcaretriage
Who d hell r u??!
A hacker?
Does Healthcare Triage even know that his account has been hacked?

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@michealwestfall8544]

Then they didn't even have the audacity to publish the depression rate for a random group of people for a baseline to compare. Where there's control group.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@marylamb6063]

I was cured of severe depression wtth antibiotics thanks to a Chinese doctor. She asked me about my diet. I told her I had asthma attacks after eating eggs and that this never happened before. She gave me a food allergy test and traced my depression to five foods. I stopped them and was depression-free 100%. She then said I could be cured, but I would have to take a lot of antibiotics to kill bad gut bacteria. I refused, but years later after a sinus infection I took antibiotics and was cured of depression for good. I cannot eat whatever I want and have had no depression since.

[@dtaylor4200]

“Well, ACKTUALLYYY…”

[@katiem.3109]

Lol, I love that Healthcare Triage liked this.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@MrNicoJac]

Articial sweeteners means that people who are trying to lose weight, are more likely to feel depressed.
How. Utterly. Shocking.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@211teitake]

I enjoy the show and the analysis of these studies but because, more likely than not, the conclusion is unreliable or misleading, the episode doesn't provide new information.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤

[@Monica-gj2yx]

Ultra processed foods can lead to poor health, which, over time, can lead to depression.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤

[@itisdevonly]

That does sound like a pretty useless study. That said, my personal experience with processed food is that depression leads me to eat it, and eating it leads me to be depressed. It's certainly not the sole cause of my depression, but it definitely exacerbates it.

[@The_Charlatan]

Too many videos about depression. Mine is going to flair up.

[@uadialesandra]

Thanks so much *MR OBALAR* on CZcams for curing me from Herpes, keep saving lives.❤❤...

[@moranii1843]

Does anyone know what depressed people do? Yeah they lay in bed eating ice cream and chips. The fact studies like these even get publishes is hilarious. Middle school science fair shit😂

[@nutzeeer]

there is a definite connection to your micriobiome. processed food isnt good for it.