Sugar intake from sweet food and beverages, common mental disorder and depression: Prospective findings from the Whitehall II study

Since there is evidence of sweet food, beverages, and added sugar consumption being related with depressive symptoms, this 2017 study set out to investigate the cross-sectional and prospective associations between sweet food/beverage intake, common mental disorder (CMD) and depression, as well as examine the influence of mood on intake as potential explanation for the observed link. The study analyzed 23,245 person-observations from the Whitehall II study, in which food frequency and validated questionnaires were used to obtain information on diet and mood. Cross-sectional analysis showed a positive association, while the prospective analysis revealed that men in the highest tertile of sugar intake from sweet food/beverages had a 23% increased odds of incident CMD after 5 years, independent of various factors including socio-demographics and diet-related factors. The risk of recurrent depression was elevated in the highest quartile for both sexes but was not found to be statistically significant when diet-related factors were included in the model. Although there was no indication that CMD and depression predicted intake changes, Knüppel et al. (2017) reaffirmed the adverse impact of sugar intake from sweet food/beverage on long-term psychological health, and also the results suggested that lower sugar consumption may be connected to improved mental health. [NPID: sugar, processed food, depression, mental health]

Year: 2017

Reference: Knüppel, A., Shipley, M. J., Llewellyn, C. H., & Brunner, E. J. (2017). Sugar intake from sweet food and beverages, common mental disorder and depression: prospective findings from the Whitehall II study. Scientific reports, 7(1), 6287. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05649-7

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