Diet and the Blues: Part 1

Could your diet be giving you the blues? If you’re eating too much sugar, it very well could be. Researchers found, in a 2015 study of postmenopausal women, that an increase in added sugars in their diet was associated with an increased likelihood of depression. In the past, scientists weren’t sure why depression, diabetes, and dementia seemed to cluster in epidemiological studies or why having one of these health issues increases your risk for the others. But in the study, published in the journal Diabetologia, researchers have found that when blood glucose levels are elevated, levels of a protein that encourages the growth of neurons and synapses drops. Translation: The simple act of eating sugar makes your brain work at a suboptimal level—and the more you do it, the greater your risk of depression and the greater your risk of diabetes and dementia, too.