Ultra-processed foods are energy-dense and ready-to-eat food items including things like processed breakfast meats, packaged snacks, and ice cream as well as artificially sweetened drinks.
I mean, I’m sure there’s even a correlation between distance from the equator, eating preserved foods, and seasonal depression. Also the correlation between processed food availability, and the cost of those items relative to the country’s economics and food availability (eg. I live in Vietnam, and fresh food is cheaper than processed, and we have low depression relative to the west, for many more reasons than breakfast meats)
That’s exactly the first thing that crossed my mind. Whenever I get a depressive episode, the last thing I want to do is cook. So the least effort, quickest meal is the meal I have. And meals like that are generally processed, terrible foods.
I assume this is a correlation study? not a causation one?
It seems plausible the opposite is true, that depressed people are more likely to eat easy sweet foods.
Or even that if you’re depressed, you only have the energy to eat pre-processed foods.
I mean, I’m sure there’s even a correlation between distance from the equator, eating preserved foods, and seasonal depression. Also the correlation between processed food availability, and the cost of those items relative to the country’s economics and food availability (eg. I live in Vietnam, and fresh food is cheaper than processed, and we have low depression relative to the west, for many more reasons than breakfast meats)
That’s exactly the first thing that crossed my mind. Whenever I get a depressive episode, the last thing I want to do is cook. So the least effort, quickest meal is the meal I have. And meals like that are generally processed, terrible foods.