Diet can cause depression?!? Go Figure.

I spend the majority of my day speaking to people about Chiropractic, and doing my best to educate them about the effects of an adjustment.  There are other components to health that I must preach about, as they are similarly important.

Thanks to Chiro.org, I came across a recent study that was just published on PubMed.gov,  Dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in the middle age.  Since this is my initial blog post that is about nutrition it will obviously be filed under the Nutrition category, however it also made me realize I was missing a category: Obvious.

As obvious as some ideas and concepts might be, we can often find experts recommending the opposite.  Their reasoning usually is based on a lack of data or peer reviewed journals speaking about the particular subject.

This is fine in some instances, since at the very least the job of a health professional, be it a Chiropractor, Medical Doctor, Physical Therapist, or Nurse is to above all else, do no harm.

I bring all of this up, as this PubMed article continues to lay groundwork for the importance of nutrition in our lives.  This is actually contrary to many of the professional opinions I have heard regarding depression and diet.

The most significant finding is the length of time it possibly takes to make an impact on your system.  In this case, "a processed food dietary pattern is a risk factor for CES-D depression 5 years later, whereas a whole food pattern is protective."  This is a gradual effect that your wouldn't really take notice of until it was too late.  By that time most people are more likely to blame an recent external factor for their change in mood. i.e. relationships, money, lack of sleep.

Missing this relationship could be the difference between success and failure in all of these areas!

Excuse me doctors?  Do you mean to tell me that we are what we eat?  That the food we consume effects our emotional state, and potentially our behavior related to that state?

But wait!  This study was only done on the middle aged. What happens if children are raised on processed foods?   Does it effect them faster, slower, or as the junk food companies would love us to believe, not at all.

I might be making a leap here, but could a change ito a healthy diet also reduce the potential for all humans to reduce their dependency on prescription antidepressants?  Could it be that simple?

So may questions, but I don't think we need to wait for more studies to answer them for us.  I would like to hold out hope that this type of study might change the current standards of care regarding depressed people.  See a health care provider that will take the time and vested interest in your health, and at the very least point you in the right direction.

I know the majority of my Chiropractic colleagues have been dispensing this type of information and logic for years.  I have a tendency to speak of it in terms of nervous system dysfunction caused by poor nutrition.  I know we are not the only ones doing so, but it could not be a better time to challenge ourselves, friends, neighbors, and families to make these changes.

For those battling depression this could be a great first step to recovery.