Eating Trans Fats May Increase Your Risk of Suffering from Depression

Back when I worked at a large fast food chain we had big blocks of shortening that we used to cook our French fries in. The stuff was really messy and had to be changed out twice a week. You had to heat up a spatula, cut the lard-looking stuff into smaller blocks and hope you didn't drop any on the floor. Then you had to pack the stuff around the coils in the fryer.

Sometimes after you packed the stuff around the heating coils in the fryer, air pockets would develop and the coils would overheat, causing the shortening to burst into flames. All in a day's work.

But there was another danger involved with that shortening: people ate it and it was loaded with coronary clogging trans fats. I remember one time a customer asked one of my crew what our shortening was made of. He replied: "Hard animal fat, sir!"

I know that makes some people today cringe when they hear that. I know I did when it happened. But the latest findings suggest that trans fats may not only harden your arteries, but consuming it may also lead to depression as well. According to Medical News Today:

" Consumption of trans fats, present in fast foods and mass-produced foods like pastries, may raise risk of depression, whereas a diet rich in mono- and polyunsaturated fats and olive oil appears to have a slight protective effect, said Spanish researchers this week."

Th study involved about 12,000 participants whose average age was about 37-years-old. The study was conducted at a university in Spain. None of the students reported having depression when they started the study, but the ones that ate a diet that was high in trans fats were 48 percent more likely to suffer from depression than those who ate a diet that was high in olive oil and other mono saturated fats.

The researchers said the association between the consumption of trans fats and depression was strong, but did not say that an increased consumption of olive oil and other mono saturated fats would lead to a lower risk of depression.

I know of two former associates in the fast food business who have commuted suicide. Maybe they should do a study about how many fast food employees commit suicide and see if there is any dietary link. Just working in fast food is enough to make you depressed in the first place. Add trans fats to that and you just might double the risk.

Sources: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/215021.php
Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra Project, Spain