The sugar trap: Why soda promotes depression

How much do you watch your sugar intake? According to the WHO, we should not consume more than 10% of our daily calories from added sugar. Even better would be just 5%, which would correspond to around 25 g of sugar. However, this value is usually already covered by a glass of lemonade (200 ml). 

➤ O n average, we consume over 100 g of sugar every day!

The consequences of too much sugar don't just affect our body weight. Added sugar affects our entire body - including our risk of type 2 diabetes, our heart and even our mind. According to recent studies, sweetened drinks in particular are associated with an increased risk of developing depression.

But what exactly do sweetened drinks - both those with added sugar and artificial sweeteners - have to do with a long-term risk of depression?

The sugar trap 

As early as 2014, scientists were able to identify a link between a diet with highly sweetened drinks and a higher risk of depression. They investigated how the daily consumption of four glasses of lemonade, diet soda or fruit juice affects the risk of depression.

In test subjects who consumed more than four glasses of lemonade (sweetened with sugar) a day, the risk of developing depression increased by 30%. The risk of depression increased by 38% among fruit juice consumers and by as much as 51% among subjects who drank diet fruit drinks.

Doesn't sugar make you happy?

Sugar can lift our mood in the short term and trigger pleasant feelings. This is because sugar acts like a drug on our brain. This is why many people reach for sweets when they want to banish a bad mood. In the long term, however, this behavior leads to the exact opposite - a bad mood and even depression.

➤ S ugar massively increases the risk of depression!

Why is sugar so harmful to our mental health?

• Sugar contributes to insulin resistance: Our brain needs insulin for healthy brain performance. If too much sugar is consumed, the hippocampus reacts less well to the hormone insulin. As a result, the insulin can no longer be sufficiently introduced into the brain - our memory performance and ability to remember suffer. Signal transmission, which is important for our mental health, is also impaired.
• Sugar is one of the main causes of chronic inflammation in the body. This in turn is one of the most important predictors of heart disease and diabetes, which usually go hand in hand with poor mental health. Excessive consumption of sugar can therefore trigger a number of negative consequences in the body - both physically and mentally.
• Sugar has a negative effect on our intestinal flora. This promotes the wrong intestinal bacteria, which in turn weakens our immune system. The body's ability to react appropriately to stress is reduced and the formation of new nerve cells (neurogenesis) is inhibited.

➤ S ugar only brightens our mood for a short time!

Nutrition as the key to fighting depression

A recently published study from the October 2019 issue of PLOS One shows that depression can be treated - and with a simple change in diet. Young adults took part in the study. In one group, the test subjects ate the same diet as before. In the other group, recommendations for a healthy diet were given and the intake of certain nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids or turmeric was also prescribed.

The result was clear. A healthy diet with plenty of vegetables, fruit, fish and lean meat significantly reduced the feeling of depression. The test subjects reported subjectively fewer symptoms of depression and the examination of objective, defined parameters also supported the result.

According to studies, women in particular benefit from a change in diet in relation to existing depression and anxiety. More and more studies are coming to the same conclusions.

➤ O ne in 10 people is affected by depression at some point in their lives!

What can you do to minimize your risk of depression?

1) You should start to extinguish inflammatory reactions in the body. To do this, the total sugar intake per day must be drastically reduced.

2) You should specifically increase your nutrient intake. The right nutrients can have a positive effect on your well-being. In comparison, nutrient deficiencies can contribute to the development of depression.

Important nutrients:

• Omega 3 fatty acids: these have been shown to alleviate severe depressive disorders. Therefore, make sure you get enough omega 3 fatty acids in your diet. Good sources are wild salmon, sardines or herring. Alternatively, you can also use a high-quality supplement(fish oil or algae oil).
• B vitamins: Studies show the importance of a vitamin deficiency in depression. For example, a folate deficiency increases the risk of depression by over 300%.
• Magnesium: According to experts, magnesium supplements improve mild to moderate depression in adults.
• Vitamin D: A deficiency of the sun vitamin leads to depression in the long term. There are even links between low vitamin D levels and the severity of depression.
• Probiotics: If the intestinal flora gets mixed up, this can be linked to the development of various diseases such as diabetes, obesity and even depression.

Helpful supplements:

• 5 HTP: is a natural alternative to traditional antidepressants. This is because in order to produce the happiness hormone serotonin, our body must first produce 5 HTP.
• St. John's wort: as a medicinal plant, it has been used for many centuries to treat depression. The herb is said to act in a similar way to antidepressants and increase the level of substances in the brain that are associated with our mood. 

Conclusion:

Sugar may make us happy in the short term, but in the long term it has many negative effects such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and depression.

Current research shows that dietary changes and sugar reduction can significantly improve symptoms associated with depression.

It is therefore definitely worthwhile for you to drastically reduce your sugar consumption and fight the sugar addiction. Start with this, for example: stop drinking your calories!

 

PS: Anyone suffering from serious depression should always seek professional help, even with natural treatments. Never simply stop taking antidepressants without medical supervision and advice.

 

 

Sources (in English):

World Health Organization. (2015). Information note about intake of sugars recommended in the WHO guideline for adults and children. Verfügbar unter: [https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/325335/WHO-NMH-NHD-15.3-eng.pdf]

Pearson, S., Schmidt, M., Patton, G., Dwyer, T., Blizzard, L., Otahal, P. et al. (2010, May). Depression and Insulin Resistance. Diabetes Care, 33(5): 1128–1133, doi: 10.2337/dc09-1940

Feher, J., Kovacs, I. & Balacco Gabrieli, C. (2011, September). [Role of gastrointestinal inflammations in the development and treatment of depression]. Orvosi Hetilap, 152(37):1477-85, doi: 10.1556/OH.2011.29166

Tolmunen, T., Hintikka, J., Ruusunen, a., Voutilainen, S., TAnskanen, A., Valkonen, V. P. et al. (2004, November-December). Dietary folate and the risk of depression in Finnish middle-aged men. A prospective follow-up study. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 73(6):334-9, doi: 10.1159/000080385

Milaneschi, Y., Hogendijk, W., Lips, P., Heijboer, A. C., Schoevers, R., Van Hemert, A. M. et al. (2014, April). The association between low vitamin D and depressive disorders. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(4):444-51, doi: 10.1038/mp.2013.36

Mocking, R. J., Harmsen, I., Assies, J., Koeter, M. W. & Schene, A. H. (2016, March). Meta-analysis and meta-regression of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation for major depressive disorder. Translational Psychiatry, e756(2016), doi: 10.1038/tp.2016.29

Tarleton, E. K., Littenberg, B., MacLean, C. D., Kennedy, A. G. & Daley, C. (2017, June). Role of magnesium supplementation in the treatment of depression: A randomized clinical trial. PLoS One, 12(6):e0180067, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180067

 

Guo, X., Park, Y., Freedman, N., SInha, R., Hollenbeck, A., Blair, A. & Chen, H. (2014, April). Sweetened Beverages, Coffee, and Tea and Depression Risk among Older US Adults. Plos One, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094715

Francis, H. M., Stevenson, R. J., Chambers, J. R., Gupta, D., Newey, B. & Kim, C. K. /2019, October). A brief diet intervention can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults – A randomised controlled trial. Plos One, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222768