The food we eat affects us in many ways. A recent study from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found a link between the consumption of ultra-processed foods and an increase in the risk of depression. Ali Rogin speaks with Olivia Okereke, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who worked on the study, to learn more.
We don’t really understand what this is about yet. Processed foods tend to offer a big sugar hit, a brain chemical rush. It’s no surprise that people struggling with depression will reach for a chemical rush. It’s also no surprise when they’re constantly squeezing their brain for it that the brain runs dry.
But this means we have the same issue as we do with all behavioral addictions: what is the underlying issue that leads us to use in the first place? Did junk food alone make me depressed? Or did I start binging junk food during my depression, which made the depression worse? Can anyone safely binge eat junk food without getting depressed? Can you? How long?