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Tag: depression risks

  • Can Eating Fast Food Lead To Depression For Teens?

    Can Eating Fast Food Lead To Depression For Teens?

    A new study examined the possible connection between depression and a fast-food heavy diet in teens.

    Teens’ diets could be contributing to their mental health, specifically their levels of depression, a new study has found. 

    According to CNN, recent research indicates there could be a connection between teenagers with a “high fast-food, low plant-based diet,” and depression levels. 

    As part of the study, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) studied urine samples from a group of middle school students at one point, then again 18 months later. Both times, the students were screened for symptoms of depression. 

    In the urine, high levels of sodium and low levels of potassium were present. 

    “High sodium, you’ve got to think of highly processed food,” said lead author Sylvie Mrug, chair of the psychology department at UAB. “This includes fast food, frozen meals and unhealthy snacks.”

    Missing Nutrients

    According to Mrug, having low potassium is a sign that a person’s diet may be missing certain healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that have high levels of potassium. These include foods like beans, sweet potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, bananas, oranges, avocados, yogurt and salmon. 

    Researchers also discovered that having a higher level of sodium in the urine could predict a student’s likelihood of exhibiting signs of depression 18 months later. 

    “The study findings make sense, as potassium-rich foods are healthy foods,” said dietitian Lisa Drayer, a CNN health and nutrition contributor. “So, if adolescents include more potassium-rich foods in their diet, they will likely have more energy and feel better overall—which can lead to a better sense of well-being and improved mental health.”

    Other Studies

    These findings aren’t necessarily new, as prior research has pointed to a similar connection between diet and mental health in adults. More specifically, one study found that adults who followed a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and little red meat or processed foods were less likely to struggle with depression.

    While the study of middle school students seemed to point to a definite connection between diet and depression, researchers say it was too small to be definitive, as it only included 84 students, 95% of which were African-American and from low-income homes.

    Mrug noted that more research is needed, as the study found an association but not a cause and effect relationship between diet and depression. 

    “It might also be true that a poor diet could be linked to other risk factors for depression, such as social isolation, lack of support, lack of resources and access to healthcare and substance abuse,” Drayer adds. “It might be hard to tease out if diet is the factor or simply a marker for other risk factors for depression.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Does Perceiving Yourself As Overweight Up Your Risk Of Depression?

    Does Perceiving Yourself As Overweight Up Your Risk Of Depression?

    A new study examined whether a person believing that they’re overweight increased their risk of depression. 

    People who believe that they are overweight are more likely to be depressed, even if they have a healthy body mass index (BMI), according to a recent scientific review. 

    For the review, published in the Clinical Psychological Review, researchers looked at 32 previous studies that had examined the link between mental health and weight. The researchers found that people who perceived themselves to be overweight were at a higher risk of depression, regardless of their actual weight status. This connection was observed in research populations from different countries around the world. 

    This study is important because it breaks down the fact that perception of weight—not just weight itself—can take a toll on mental health. Because people of a higher weight are generally stigmatized, people who believe they are overweight may worry that they will not fit in with their peers, and this in turn could contribute to depression. 

    “This fear of social devaluation resulting from perceiving oneself as being part of a stigmatized group may threaten core psychological needs of belonging and acceptance, and in turn damage mental health,” wrote the team of researchers led by Ashleigh Haynes of the University of Liverpool, according to the New Scientist.  

    The researchers found that people who believed they were overweight consistently had poorer mental health regardless of age, gender and actual weight classification.

    The data suggested “that the detrimental effect of overweight [sic] on mental health is largely dependent on whether or not a person identifies as overweight,” the researchers wrote. 

    Perception

    People who viewed themselves as overweight were also more likely to struggle with suicidality, the research revealed. 

    Researchers pointed out that body perception may not be the cause of depression. Alternatively, being depressed could make people see their bodies as overweight even when they are not. 

    Being overweight and being depressed have been closely linked. Nearly 43% of people with depression are obese. Adults with depression are more likely to be obese than adults without depression. 

    Depression Risks

    Another study found that people who are obese have a 55% increased chance of developing depression. In that case, the study authors found that the conditions can exacerbate each other. 

    “We found bidirectional associations between depression and obesity: obese persons had a 55% increased risk of developing depression over time, whereas depressed persons had a 58% increased risk of becoming obese,” the study authors wrote. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Can Properly Communicating Negative Emotions Help Teens Avoid Depression?

    Can Properly Communicating Negative Emotions Help Teens Avoid Depression?

    A new study explored whether undercommunicating negative emotions after stressful life events impacted teen’s mental health.

    Being able to communicate negative emotions effectively may help teens when it comes to mental health—specifically when it comes to depression. 

    According to Medical Xpress, this was determined based on new research surrounding negative emotion differentiation (NED), which is “the ability to make fine-grained distinctions between negative emotions and apply precise labels.”

    “Adolescents who use more granular terms such as ‘I feel annoyed,’ or ‘I feel frustrated,’ or ‘I feel ashamed’—instead of simply saying ‘I feel bad’—are better protected against developing increased depressive symptoms after experiencing a stressful life event,” lead author Lisa Starr, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, tells Medical Xpress. 

    Communication Is Key

    Teens with low negative emotion differentiation scores are more likely to describe their emotions with less specific terms like “bad” or “upset.” Such teens have a harder time finding lessons in their emotions, as well as coping mechanisms, Starr says.

    “Emotions convey a lot of information,” Star says. “They communicate information about the person’s motivational state, level of arousal, emotional valence, and appraisals of the threatening experience. A person has to integrate all that information to figure out—”am I feeling irritated,” or “am I feeling angry, embarrassed, or some other emotion?”

    During the study, Starr and her team found that low NED scores can lead to a stronger correlation between depression and stressful events in life. 

    According to prior research, NED scores tend to be lowest during adolescence, leading to higher depression rates during this period of life. While prior research linked depression and low NED scores, it didn’t determine if a low NED score typically came before a depression diagnosis or after. 

    During the study, Starr and her team gathered a group of 233 adolescents around Rochester. They had an average age of 16 and a little more than half were females. WIthin that group, Starr and her colleagues did diagnostic interviews for depression.

    The participants then reported on their emotions for one week, four times each day. 

    The research team, according to Medical Xpress, waited a year and a half and then conducted interviews once again with 193 of the participants who returned. In doing so, they found that adolescents who struggled to differentiate negative emotions were more likely to struggle with symptoms of depression after a stressful life event. But those with high NED scores were better able to manage such symptoms and reduce the likelihood of a depression diagnosis. 

    According to Starr, changing the way one feels begins with the ability to acknowledge those feelings. 

    “Basically you need to know the way you feel, in order to change the way you feel,” Starr says. “I believe that NED could be modifiable, and I think it’s something that could be directly addressed with treatment protocols that target NED.”

    “Our data suggests that if you are able to increase people’s NED then you should be able to buffer them against stressful experiences and the depressogenic effect of stress,” she adds. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Does Marijuana Use Put Teens At Risk For Depression?

    Does Marijuana Use Put Teens At Risk For Depression?

    A scientific review explored the potential link between depression and teen marijuana use.

    Smoking pot is often portrayed as a harmless rite of passage for teens, but according to a scientific review released this week, smoking cannabis can significantly increase a teenager’s risk of developing depression and suicidal thoughts as a young adult. 

    The review, published in JAMA Psychiatry, looked at data from 11 studies covering more than 23,000 individuals. Researchers concluded, “Adolescent cannabis consumption was associated with increased risk of developing depression and suicidal behavior later in life, even in the absence of a premorbid condition.”

    According to Science Daily, smoking pot increases the chances of developing depression by about 7%. That could lead to an additional 400,000 cases of depression in teens in the U.S.

    “Our findings about depression and suicidality are very relevant for clinical practice and public health. Although the size of the negative effects of cannabis can vary between individual adolescents and it is not possible to predict the exact risk for each teenager, the widespread use of cannabis among the young generations makes it an important public health issue,” said Professor Andrea Cipriani, who was involved in the study. 

    She pointed out that the data was carefully controlled and considered in order to really understand the connection between marijuana use, depression and suicidal thoughts. Interestingly, the researchers did not find any increased risk for anxiety in teens who smoked marijuana. 

    “We looked at the effects of cannabis because its use among young people is so common, but the long-term effects are still poorly understood. We carefully selected the best studies carried out since 1993 and included only the methodologically sound ones to rule out important confounding factors, such as premorbid depression,” Cipriani said. 

    Lead study author Dr. Gabriella Gobbi said that the review shows a new health concern stemming from marijuana use among teens. 

    “While the link between cannabis and mood regulation has been largely studied in preclinical studies, there was still a gap in clinical studies regarding the systematic evaluation of the link between adolescent cannabis consumption and the risk of depression and suicidal behavior in young adulthood. This study aimed to fill this gap, helping mental health professionals and parents to better address this problem,” she said. 

    The possible increased risk for depression is yet another health consequence of marijuana that policymakers need to consider, especially as the drug becomes more widely available on the recreational market, Cipriani said. 

    “Regular use during adolescence is associated with lower achievement at school, addiction, psychosis and neuropsychological decline, increased risk of motor vehicle crashes, as well as the respiratory problems that are associated with smoking.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Are "Night Owls" More Prone to Depression?

    Are "Night Owls" More Prone to Depression?

    Researchers examined if burning the midnight oil could put you at higher risk for mental health disorders.

    New research has found that a genetic link may exist between individuals who prefer sleeping later, or “night owls,” and mental disorders, including depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia.

    A study of genomic data—information culled from an organism’s genetic and DNA material—from thousands of participants in a UK health survey found that while differences in sleep timing did not impact sleep quality of “night owls” or “morning people,” it did reveal a causal link between night owls and the aforementioned conditions.

    While the reason for the connection remained unclear, researchers indicated that its presence underscored the need for greater research into genetics and mental health.

    The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, reviewed genomic data from nearly 700,000 participants culled from two sources: the private, U.S.-based genome analysis company 23andMe and the non-profit UK Biobank.

    Participants were given a health survey in which they would answer if they were “morning people” or “night owls” based on sleep timing and tendencies. The researchers compared information from the survey with data from wristband activity trackers worn by 85,000 participants in the UK Biobank.

    The data yielded two significant findings. First, the researchers determined a vastly larger number of regions in the human genome—351—associated with early rising than previously identified; prior to the study, only 24 of these regions were known to science. Study participants with more gene variants connected to early rising typically went to sleep up to a half hour earlier than individuals with fewer variants.

    These variants also appeared to be linked to both the retina and the body’s circadian clock, which is the body’s means of monitoring sleep, wakefulness, digestion and other bodily functions.

    As study lead author Samuel Jones noted, “Part of the reason why some people are up with the larks while others are night owls is because of differences in both the way our brains react to external light signals and the normal functioning of our internal clocks.”

    But what the scientists also found was that those individuals whose genomic data identified them as night owls also had a greater propensity for the risk of depression and schizophrenia, among other conditions.

    Sleep quality or lack of sleep did not appear to play a role in this causal link, and while the researchers were unable to determine a specific reason for the link, study co-author Jacqueline Lane suggested that a combination of physical stimuli, such as morning light, societal pressures—the need to feel awake in the morning and midday due to work schedules—and genetics may play a role.

    “Our current study really highlights the need for further study of how chronotype is causally linked to mental health and, until these studies are done, we can only speculate on the mechanism,” said Lane.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Dads' Post-Natal Depression May Affect Their Teenage Daughters

    Dads' Post-Natal Depression May Affect Their Teenage Daughters

    A new study found a connection between paternal depression and the later depression of their female offspring. 

    There’s been much more attention given to maternal mental health in recent years, but a new study suggests that paternal mental health is also important to the long-term health of children, particularly daughters. 

    The study, published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, examined more than 3,000 pairs of parents and children to try to understand how depression in a parent can increase depression risk in their offspring. The authors found that when dads are depressed during the postnatal period (8 weeks after a baby’s birth), their daughters are more likely to have symptoms of depression when they turn 18. 

    Interestingly, the study found that when dad is depressed, the mother may be more likely to have depression as well. In turn, this can affect the child, even in the long-term. 

    “Depression in fathers in the postnatal period has potential implications for family and child functioning into late childhood and adolescence; it should be addressed in perinatal services, and both parents should be considered when 1 presents with depression,” study authors wrote.

    The connection between paternal depression and the depression of offspring was seen in girls, but not in boys. 

    “The association between paternal depression in the postnatal period and depression in girls at age 18 years is partially explained by maternal depression,” study authors wrote. 

    More research has been delving into how fatherhood affect men’s mental health. Last year, research suggested that fathers can experience hormonal changes after the birth of a baby, which can lead to depression and affect the function of the whole family.

    Darby Saxbe, an assistant professor of psychology at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and lead author of that study told Science Daily that we are still learning how fatherhood affects men. 

    “We often think of motherhood as biologically driven because many mothers have biological connections to their babies through breastfeeding and pregnancy. We don’t usually think of fatherhood in the same biological terms. We are still figuring out the biology of what makes dads tick,” Saxbe said. 

    Having a healthy father in the home can help improve outcomes for children. 

    “We know that fathers contribute a lot to child-rearing and that on the whole, kids do better if they are raised in households with a father present,” Saxbe said. “So, it is important to figure out how to support fathers and what factors explain why some fathers are very involved in raising their children while some are absent.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Over 200 Common Medications May Cause Depression, Study Warns

    Over 200 Common Medications May Cause Depression, Study Warns

    The researchers described the study as the first to successfully prove that when common drugs are used at the same time, the risk for adverse side effects rises.

    More than one-third of American adults take medications that might trigger depression and thoughts of suicide, ABC News reported.

    According to a new study, more than 200 common drugs, including birth control pills, antacids and beta blockers for blood pressure, are regularly taken despite their known side effects.

    Conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the study examined how 26,000 people used their prescription medications over a nine-year period.

    Researchers first asked the study’s participants to report on the drugs they’d taken in the past month, and then screened them for depression.

    By 2014 (the last year of the study), 38% of all U.S. adults were taking at least one drug with adverse effects. Seven percent of the people who used one of those drugs, the study found, suffered from depression. Perhaps not surprisingly, depression increased with the number of drugs people take at the same time.

    Depression was reported in 9% of the people who took two drugs and in 15% of adults who took three or more at the same time. (Only 5% of the people not taking any of the commonly used drugs had depression.)

    The researchers described their study as the first to successfully prove that when common drugs are used at the same time (termed “polypharmacy”), the risk for adverse side effects rises.

    “The takeaway message of this study is that polypharmacy can lead to depressive symptoms and that patients and health care providers need to be aware of the risk of depression that comes with all kinds of common prescription drugs—many of which are also available over the counter,” said Dima Qato, the study’s lead researcher. “Many may be surprised to learn that their medications, despite having nothing to do with mood or anxiety or any other condition normally associated with depression, can increase their risk of experiencing depressive symptoms, and may lead to a depression diagnosis.”

    As ABC News observed, doctors and health care providers may be blind to depression and suicide risks because the drugs are so common. 

    Not everyone, however, is convinced the study makes its case.

    “It’s hard to prove this link with this type of research. It could in fact be that the drugs are leading to depression. However, it could be that people had pre-existing depression,” Dr. Tara Narula told CBS This Morning. “It could be the chronic conditions they’re taking the medications for… [that is] what’s causing depression and not the drugs.”

    And while Dr. Narula recommended that people read their drugs’ packaging, Dr. Qato counters that very few drugs actually carry warning labels, which only further puts people at risk.

    Qato suggested that depression-recognizing software may be a solution, as it could identify dangerous drug interactions. 

    View the original article at thefix.com