Yet Another Study Links Processed Food To Depression - Furious Seasons January 13, 2010
There's been a small wave of studies published in recent months concerning diet and depression. There was one asserting that the Mediterranean diet is protective against depression and another one asserting a link between processed food and depression. Now comes a new study [ http://www.furiousseasons.com/documents ... ession.pdf ]in the American Journal of Psychiatry by Australian researchers asserting that processed foods--or what researchers deemed a "Western" diet--was linked with greater odds of depression (38 percent) and anxiety (9 percent) than was a "traditional" diet (odds ratio .78 and .81) or a "modern" diet (1.08 and .97 odds ratios).
The study looked at the dietary patterns of 1,046 women and, of them, 60 had dysthymia or major depression and 80 had anxiety disorders. So while the statistical power of this study may not be large, it certainly follows the pattern of other recent studies.