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According to a recent study, a carb-filled diet could trigger depression, because the multitude of highly refined carbohydrates affects the insulin metabolism, which in turn changes the mood of a person.
Eating lots of bread, pasta and white rice is clearly delicious, because the possibilities are essentially endless when it comes to recipes for all the meals of the day. However, a diet rich in these types of food will not only make you put on quite a few pounds, but it will also make your life literally miserable, as it has the potential to trigger depressive episodes.
The study that is bringing out these conclusions has been conducted on a massive amount of data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, that was carried out between 1994 and 1998, National Institutes of Health.
The research team behind this study has analyzed more than 70.000 cases of post-menopausal women, over the course of four years. They have looked at their dietary preferences and their diet score on the glycemic index (GI) and their extensive health assessment that was included in their files, particularly if they had ever been diagnosed with depression.
They have concluded that there is quite a strong link between a carb-filled diet and depressive episodes and they explain that it has everything to do with the way that the body processes sugar. They point out that when eating meals that are rich in carbohydrates and especially in highly refined carbohydrates, the level of sugar in the blood rises quickly, because these carbs are very easy to break down and turn into sugar.
In turn, the body releases high levels of insulin, in order to keep the blood sugar levels at bay, that end up causing “crashes” in blood sugar and a wide variety of adverse effects, that include mood swings and depressive episodes.
The researchers actually insist that replacing the carbohydrates in the daily diet with vegetables and whole grains might have not only a reversal effect on the depression, but it might actually end up keeping people more emotionally stable. The researchers behind this study point out that more extensive research is needed on this particular matter though.
The best advice that anybody can take from the present study is to lower the carbohydrate levels in their diets in order to live a healthier happier life.
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