Over the past couple of years, we’ve witnessed harrowing headlines and we should be used to them by now. But every now and then we’d come across something that would shake our belief in humanity and make us question what even is our purpose on this Earth.
Well, one of those came recently when a study was published that claimed a direct relation between French fries and mental health issues like depression and anxiety.
The study, conducted by St Louis School of Medicine at Washington University, linked a diet high in the consumption of fried food, particularly fried potatoes, with increased risks of anxiety and depression.
The go-to comfort food for most of us, fries, carry a 12 percent higher risk of anxiety and 7 percent higher risk of depression, according to the study.
The researchers studied 1,40,728 participants over a decade to map their fried food consumption and mental health. They excluded the participants who were diagnosed with depression within the first two years of the study. After that, they uncovered a total of 8,294 cases of anxiety and 12,735 cases of depression among the participants known to consume fried potatoes.
It was discovered that fried potatoes contain a contaminant known as acrylamide. This triggers neuroinflammation and lipid metabolism disturbance which affects the mental health.
The researchers clarified that these are preliminary results and more investigation needs to be conducted into the matter. They also revealed that there’s a Catch-22 situation, where it’d difficult to determine whether depression and anxiety are caused by the consumption of fried food or do people with depression and anxiety find themselves drawn towards fried food for comfort.
We’ll keep you posted on what the researchers discover in the future.
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