Regular consumption of ultra-processed foods is associated with an increased risk of developing clinical depression in the future. This is the evidence extracted from a study with more than 14,000 volunteers from the project 'Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra' (SUN), led by Miguel A. Martínez-González, researcher main of the CIBER in its thematic area Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition(CIBEROBN). The work has been published in the European Journal of Nutrition.

After analyzing a total of 14,907 volunteers who had never suffered from depression at the beginning of the study for more than 10 years, 774 new cases of clinically diagnosed depression were detected during a maximum follow-up of 16 years, after an analysis of average . Other factors being equal, consumers of ultra-processed foods had a 33% relative increase in the risk of developing depression compared to those with no or minimal consumption. This adverse effect was even greater in people with low levels of physical activity.

According to Clara Gómez Donoso, researcher at department of Preventive Medicine of the University of Navarra and first author of work, "programs of study previous project SUN had already found that ultraprocessed foods increased the risk of hypertension and obesity. These cardiometabolic conditions share pathophysiological mechanisms and risk factors with depression".

It also stresses that this finding on depression "contributes to the growing scientific evidence on the serious detrimental effects of ultra-processed products and confirms those of the French NutriNet-Santé cohort, which assessed depressive symptoms, but not new cases of clinical depression, and found similar results".

Ultraprocessed foods with leave nutritional quality

According to the NOVA classification, which catalogs foods according to their processing Degree , ultra-processed foods are industrial formulations made from refined (sugar, starches, vegetable oils, salt) or synthesized (trans fats, hydrolyzed protein, additives) ingredients, and do not contain any recognizable whole foods. Some examples are: sweetened soft drinks, sausages, sweetened dairy desserts, cookies, industrial pastries or breakfast cereals.

"They are characterized by their leave nutritional quality, convenience (they are ready to eat at any time, with no need for preparation), availability (the environment favors their consumption) and hyper-palatability (they are extremely tasty)," explains Clara Gómez.

In addition, "they displace the consumption of beneficial foods and move away from truly healthy eating patterns," he adds. The Mediterranean per diem expenses , for example, has been associated with a lower risk of depression in the SUN cohort and with a strong reduction in cardiovascular and breast cancer risk in the PREDIMED (Prevention with Mediterranean per diem expenses ) study.