Trans-Fats and Mood
A study published January 26, 2011 titled "Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Depression: The SUN Project" investigated the link between the intake of trans-fats and the likelihood of depression. According to The American Heart Association, trans fats are found in " fried foods like French fries and doughnuts, and baked goods including pastries, pie crusts, biscuits, pizza dough, cookies, crackers, and stick margarines and shortenings."
The study followed 12,059 university graduates with a mean age of 37 years. The participants had to be free of depression at the beginning of the study, meaning they had no previous diagnosis of depression from a physician and were not taking antidepressant medications. The researchers gave the participants "a 136-item validated food frequency questionnaire was used to estimate the intake of fatty acids (saturated fatty acids (SFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), trans unsaturated fatty acids (TFA) and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and culinary fats (olive oil, seed oils, butter and margarine)" at the beginning of the study to analyze the participants' dietary habits. The researchers re-analyzed participants during and after the 6 year study.
At the end of the study, 657 of the research participants had a diagnosis of depression from a doctor or had started taking antidepressants.
According to Science Daily, Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, the first author of the study, found that their data revealed participants who ate trans fats had "up to a 48% increase in the risk of depression when they were compared to participants who did not consume these fats."
The conclusion of the study reported "A detrimental relationship was found between TFA intake and depression risk, whereas weak inverse associations were found for MUFA, PUFA and olive oil. These findings suggest that cardiovascular disease and depression may share some common nutritional determinants related to subtypes of fat intake."
While there haven't been an abundance of studies on the relationship between depression and trans fat intake, this study does give even more cause to support the exclusion of trans fats in a healthy diet.
Published by Katie D
Katie has been a freelance writer since 2007. She has published articles on several websites such as LIVESTRONG and eHow, as well as her work on Associated Content. View profile
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