Comfort Food and Depression Risk

Post by Jennifer Kalyuzhny (Jennifer is a Hamline University School of Law student participating in a food law seminar at William Mitchell College of Law)



photo from freedigitalphotos.net



On msnbc.com, a headline appearing in the section devoted to medical curiosities called The Body Odd declares, “Comfort food may spark a vicious cycle, study suggests.”  The author explains that a new study “shows that eating junk food is linked to depression.” 

However, this definitive language likely overstates the findings of the study.  For example, all data collected in the study relied on questionnaires sent out to participants twice a year who self-reported the levels of intake for various types of fats as well as clinical diagnoses of depression.  Such a questionnaire method cannot be completely accurate, as some participants may have forgotten their precise intake amounts in the previous six months or may misreport a diagnosis.  Furthermore, the researchers acknowledge that reverse causality may be a possibility, as “participants with sub-clinical depression at baseline might have changed their food habits because of their mood disorder.”  They also admit that although their findings do present a detrimental correlation between substances such as Trans fat and risk of depression, these finding need confirmation by further prospective studies and by trials. 

Thanks, Jennifer!