SWEETS CAN HURT MENTAL HEALTH

If you’re prone to depression, you might want to say “bah humbug” to sugary holiday desserts. A new study from a team of clinical psychologists at the University of Kansas suggests that added sugars can trigger metabolic, inflammatory, and neurobiological processes tied to depressive illness. Coupled with dwindling light in wintertime and corresponding changes in sleep patterns, high sugar consumption could result in a perfect storm that adversely affects mental health, according to the researchers.

The researchers found that inflammation is the key physiological effect of dietary sugar related to mental health. “A large subset of people with depression have high levels of systemic inflammation,” said Stephen Ilardi, a coauthor of the study. “When we think about inflammatory disease, we think about diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, diseases with a high level of systemic inflammation. We don’t normally think about depression in that category, but it is—not for everyone who’s depressed, but for about half. We also know that inflammatory hormones can directly push the brain into a severe depression. An inflamed brain is typically a depressed brain. And added sugars have a pro-inflammatory effect on the body and brain.”

The problem is worse this time of year. “For many people, reduced sunlight exposure during the winter will throw off circadian rhythms, disrupting healthy sleep and pushing 5 to 10 percent of the population into a fullblown clinical depression,” Ilardi says.