Diet and Depression, Diet and Diabetes, and Hold the Ice Cream

Three studies have been presented over the past month. They all show dramatic results from eating well.

BBC News reported yesterday that the British Journal of Psychiatry published data on 3500 government employees who were followed over five years. They found that those eating a diet "high in processed foods had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate very few processed foods."

They then subdivided those who were in the whole food group into two subgroups;  those who ate mostly whole foods and  those who ate somewhat less whole foods.  Those eating the higher quantity of whole foods had 26% less depression than those who just ate somewhat less.

The Heart.Org reported today on a study published this week in Lancet.  They presented the extended follow-up of a study known as The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP).  The first results, published in 2002, showed that lifestyle change (diet, exercise, and weight loss) resulted in 58% less new cases  of diabetes than in the placebo group. They also compared these results to patients put on metformin (a diabetes drug). The metformin group had only 31% fewer new cases of diabetes. In other words, life-style changes prevented diabetes almost twice as well as drug therapy and lifestyle changes also decreased the number of new-onset diabetics by almost 60% over those who did not change lifestyles.

At the end of this part of the study, all the  participants were given advice on lifestyle modification.

All the groups were then followed for 5.7 years. They called this follow-up, Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study (DPPOS). The lifestyle modification group maintained their low rate of new onset diabetes and the other two groups (after instructions on lifestyle) dropped their rate of new onset diabetes dramatically. 1 


The third study was performed by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. They  showed that a high intake of a saturated fat found in ice cream, cheese, milk, butter, and beef (palmitic acid) sends a message from the brain to the body causing the body to overeat. They proved conclusively that when rodents eat high fat diets containing palmitic acid, the cells of their body stop responding to the two chemicals which should act as eating governors. The two hormones, leptin and insulin, are supposed to act as food gatekeepers. Secretion of these two chemicals is supposed to set off a chain of biologic events which result in feeling full. The study showed that a single meal high in palmitic acid (like a big bowl of ice cream), had an effect that lasted for at least three days. This effect basically consists of overeating. 2

These three studies speak well for themselves. The evidence is truly pouring in from around the world.  Processed foods and diets high in saturated fats are making us fat, plagued with chronic diseases and increasingly depressed. The answer seems obvious and easy.  Eat real food.

1. Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group.  10 year follow-up of diabetes incidence and weight loss in the Diabetes Prevention Study, Lancet  2009. DOI 10.1016/50140-6736(09)61457-4

available at: http//www.thelancet.com

2. UT Southwestern Medical Center (2009, September 19). Ice Cream May Target The Brain Before Your Hips, Study Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 29, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2009/09/090914110533.htm