Anxiety and depression, how French fries affect your health

After numerous studies found that fried food causes obesity and numerous other physical problems, new research has established a link between the consumption of fried food and above all potatoes, with a higher risk of anxiety and depression, writes CNN.

A research team from Hangzhou, China, has found that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially French fries, is associated with a 12 percent higher risk of anxiety and a 7 percent higher risk of depression than people who do not consume these fried foods. This connection is more pronounced among young people and younger consumers.

Fried food is a known risk factor for obesity, high blood pressure and other health consequences. These results "pave the way for the mental health importance of reducing fried food consumption," according to an article published Monday in the journal PNAS.

However, experts who study the diet said the results are preliminary and it's not necessarily clear whether fried foods cause mental health problems or whether people with symptoms of depression or anxiety have switched to fried foods.

The study involved 140,728 people over 11 years. After excluding participants diagnosed with depression in the first two years, a total of 8,294 cases of anxiety and 12,735 cases of depression were found among those who consumed fried foods, while chips in particular were found to have a 2 percent higher risk. high depression compared to fried white meat.

The study also found that participants who regularly consumed more than one serving of fried food tended to be younger men.

"The human component of this study may show exactly what it implies: that higher consumption of fried foods increases the risk of anxiety/depression," says Dr. David Katz, a lifestyle medicine specialist who was not involved in the study.

"However, the causal pathway may run in the opposite direction: people with anxiety/depression are increasingly turning to 'comfort foods' for some relief," added Katz, founder of the True Health Initiative. .

Those with underlying symptoms of anxiety and depression can turn to comfort foods as a way of self-medicating, he says. Junk food and poor nutrition can negatively affect mood and worsen the condition, as found in the aforementioned study.