Seasonal raise in sugar intake may lead to depression

High sugar consumption, which is common during the holiday season, may trigger depression, according to a study which suggests that people prone to mental illness should control their year-round sugar intake.

Along with dwindling light in wintertime, and corresponding changes in sleep patterns, high sugar consumption may lead to a perfect storm that adversely affects mental health, the researchers said.

For many people, reduced sunlight exposure during the winter will throw off circadian rhythms, disrupting healthy sleep and pushing five to 10 percent of the population into a full-blown episode of clinical depression, said study co-author Stephen Ilardi, who is also KU associate professor of clinical psychology.

Sweet craving in winters can be a sign of depression

The study noted that these symptoms of winter-onset depression could prompt people to consume more sweets.

One common characteristic of winter-onset depression is craving sugar, he said.

So, we've got up to 30 percent of the population suffering from at least some symptoms of winter-onset depression, causing them to crave carbs and now they're constantly confronted with holiday sweets, he added.

Side effect of avoidance of added dietary sugar

According to the researchers, avoidance of added dietary sugar might be particularly challenging as sugar provides an initial mood boost, leading some with depressive illness to seek it for its temporary emotional lift.

They have an immediate mood-elevating effect, but in high doses, they can also have a paradoxical, pernicious longer-term consequence of making mood worse, reducing well-being, elevating inflammation and causing weight gain, the researcher said.

He added that when it comes to depression, people who optimize their diet should provide all the nutrients with the brain needs, and mostly avoid these potential toxins.

The study also revealed that inflammation is the most important physiological effect of dietary sugar related to mental health and depressive disorder.

A large subset of people with depression has high levels of systemic inflammation, he said.

"We also know that inflammatory hormones can directly push the brain into a state of severe depression. So, an inflamed brain is typically a depressed brain. And added sugars have a pro-inflammatory effect on the body and brain," he added.

The researchers also identified sugar's impact on the community of bacteria living in the human intestines, or the microbiome, as a potential contributor to depression.

Our bodies host over 10 trillion microbes and many of them know how to hack into the brain, he said.

The KU scientist said the beneficial microbes hack the brain to enhance our well-being.

But he added that there are also some opportunistic microbes that have a near parasitic relationship with their human hosts.

"Many of those parasitic microbes thrive on added sugars, and they can produce chemicals that push the brain in a state of anxiety and stress and depression. They are also highly inflammatory," Ilardi cautioned.

The study recommends a minimally processed diet, rich in plant-based foods and Omega-3 fatty acids, for optimal psychological benefit.

He explained this diet is recommended not just during the holidays, but year-round.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to predicting exactly how any person's body will react to any given food at any given dose, he said.

The researchers said there could be some risk associated with high-dose sugar intake -- probably anything above 25 grams of added sugars per day.

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Eating junk food can raise risk of bipolar disorder, depression

Feeling depressed? It's time to cut out the unhealthy junk food from your diet as it increases the risk of psychological disorders including bipolar disorder and depression, said researchers.

Junk food is not only harmful for metabolism but also increases the risk of psychological problems such as bipolar disorder and depression, irrespective of personal characteristics such as age, gender, education and marital status, according to the study.

High-sugar consumption was found to be linked with bipolar disorder, while fried foods or processed grains were associated with depression.

"Perhaps the time has come for us to take a closer look at the role of diet in mental health because it could be that healthy diet choices contribute to mental health," said lead author.

"More research is needed before we can answer definitively, but the evidence seems to be pointing in that direction," he added.

The findings provide "additional evidence that public policy and clinical practice should more explicitly aim to improve diet quality among those struggling with mental health". 

It also pointed out that "dietary interventions for people with mental illness should especially target young adults, those with less than 12 years of education, and obese individuals."

For the study, the team of researchers reviewed data from over 2,40,000 telephone surveys conducted between 2005 and 2015.

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Diabetes in Children: 5 Risk Factors That Are Impacting Kids' Health

It is no hidden fact that diabetes is one of the major lifestyle diseases causing death in India, so much so that in the recent years India is being touted as the diabetic capital of the world. While one may assume that this disease is prevalent among adults and the elderly, cases of diabetes in children are shockingly on the rise too. Delving into the risk factors, you get to see the obvious, which streams mainly from sedentary lifestyle. In a 2015 pan-India report, it was found that a whopping 66.11 percent of Indian children possessed "abnormal levels of sugar" in their body. The three year-long study was conducted on 17,000 children, and it attributed the triggers as urbanisation, changes in eating habits, shifting focus on indoor activities with dramatic lifestyle changes.

One would assume that children commonly engage in numerous physical activities in schools and homes, and lead an active lifestyle. But in reality, following unhealthy habits of parents and other adults, they are getting hooked on gadgets, spending more time indoors on the couch rather than participating in outdoor activities, binge eating, living on processed and junk foods, so on and so forth. All of these are impacting their health in many ways than one. In the end, it's all about discipline - whether it's to do with diet or physical fitness.


Diabetes is a lifelong condition, wherein the hormone insulin is unable to break down sugars from food and convert it into energy. As a result, the blood sugar level goes up, disrupting various functions of the body. Here are some common risk factors of diabetes in children -

1. Cut Down on Sugar
According to a study done by the Imperial College London, children are everyday consuming up to three times more sugar than what is good for them. "The results of this survey are extremely worrying. At a time when one in three 10-year-old children are overweight or obese, and one in three five-year-olds has tooth decay, the health risks posed by failure to tackle sugar intake are serious," stated Professor Neena Modi, lead author of the study. The study found that children below the age of 18, were consuming sugary drinks every day, and their sugar intake was almost three times more than the recommended limit. Most children were obese too, consuming high amounts of saturated fats.

2. Don't Skip Breakfast
It's not without reason that they say that one should eat breakfast like a king. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which sets in motion various vital functions of the body. According to a study done by researchers from Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow and St George's Universities in England, kids who eat regular breakfast may have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. They found that skipping breakfast increased the risk of insulin resistance in children, bringing about a spike in sugar levels. Moreover, skipping breakfast also resulted in unhealthy snacking putting them at risk of obesity.

3. Prevent Fatty Liver
Well, fatty liver isn't only to do with alcohol consumption. There's a condition which is known as non-alcoholic fatty liver. According to a US-based study, about seven million children in the U.S. have fatty livers, and nearly a third of those kids also have prediabetes or diabetes. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) "is one of the biggest risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes in children," said Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, director of the Fatty Liver Clinic at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. "The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is 1 in 200 in children with obesity, and 1 in 15 in children with NAFLD." NAFLD can cause scarring in the liver and can lead to liver failure.

4. Obesity is the Main Cause
As parents, we of course want our kids to be at the best of health, but that doesn't mean overfeeding them and being okay with them being plump. There is a difference. And in India, many parents fail to differentiate between their kids being healthy and obese. Abdominal obesity in children is directly related to metabolic diseases, including high blood pressure and diabetes, stated an India-based study. "In my daily practice, I am seeing many children who are getting diseases which were earlier seen only in adults, primarily because of obesity. It is shocking to see children as young as six years with diseases like hypertension, diabetes mellitus and abnormalities in the lipid profile. In this study we found 350 children suffering from hypertension," said Dr. Archana Dayal Arya, co-author of the study.

It is of utmost importance to make kids cut down on high calorie foods like junk food and provide them with more nutrients.

5. Ditch Screen Time, and Engage in Physical Activities
In a shocking report, more and more children seem to disengaging from physical activities, even as young as seven years old. Physical fitness is crucial for the healthy development of children, keeping them fit and active. But with the popularity of gadgets - smartphones, video games, tablets, laptops and even TV - they seem to be spending more time using them than heading out for sports. According to a recent UK-based study, children spending more than three hours staring at smartphone, TV screens or their computer systems are at a risk of developing type-2 diabetes. Extended periods of screen time can cause increased levels of body fat and insulin resistance in children.

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Snacking contributes to fatty liver, abdominal obesity

  Snacking on high-fat and high-sugar foods is linked to abdominal fat and fatty liver disease, according to a new study.

 

The study found that a hypercaloric diet with frequent meals increases intrahepatic triglyceride content and fat around the waist, but increasing meal size did not.

Studies have linked obesity to the accumulation of abdominal fat and fat in the liver, making non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) one of the most prevalent diseases of the liver.

“American children consume up to 27 per cent of calories from high-fat and high-sugar snacks,” said lead author Dr. Mireille Serlie with the Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

“Our study examines if high meal frequency, with snacking, compared to large meal consumption contributes to increased intrahepatic and abdominal fat,” Dr. Serlie said.

For the study, 36 lean men were randomised to a hypercaloric diet or a eucaloric control diet (balanced diet) for six weeks.

Researchers measured IHTG and abdominal fat using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and insulin sensitivity before and after the diet.

Those subjects on the hypercaloric diet ate 3 main meals along with additional calories from high fat and/or high sugar drinks, with or in between meals, to increase meal size or meal frequency.

Results show that high calorie diets increased BMI.

Eating more frequent meals significantly increased IHTG, while larger sized meals did not.

Researchers found that belly fat increased in the high fat/high sugar frequency group and in the high sugar-frequency group. A decrease in liver insulin sensitivity was found in the high fat/high sugar-frequency group.

“Our study provides the first evidence that eating more often, rather than consuming large meals, contributes to fatty liver independent of body weight gain,” said Dr. Serlie.

“These findings suggest that by cutting down on snacking and encouraging three balanced meals each day over the long term may reduce the prevalence of NAFLD,” Serlie added.

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HIGH CRAB DIETS MAY INCREASE ALZHEIMER'S RISK

Older people, who eat a carbohydrate rich diet are four times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, which is a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, a new research has claimed.

The research from the Mayo Clinic in America has found that the risk is also higher with a diet high in sugar, while on the other hand, proteins and fats appeared to offer some protection as people who consumed plenty of them were less likely to suffer cognitive decline, the Daily Mail reported.

Not everyone suffering from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) develops Alzheimer's disease, but many do.

The research tracked 1,230 people of ages between 70- 89 and asked them to provide data on what they ate last year.

Among that group, only 940 people who showed no traces of cognitive impairment were asked to return for follow-ups every 15 months.

By the study’s fourth year, 200 of the 940 began to show mild cognitive impairment - trouble with memory, language, thinking and judgement.

If we can stop people from developing MCI, we hope we can stop people from developing dementia. Once you hit the dementia stage, it’s irreversible.

A high-carbohydrate intake could be bad for you because carbohydrates impact your glucose and insulin metabolism.

Sugar fuels the brain, so moderate intake is good. However, high levels of sugar may actually prevent the brain from using the sugar - similar to what we see with type 2 diabetes.