2023-04-28 11:22:39
Already decried for metabolic health and their caloric intake, fries should be avoided if you don’t want to end up depressed and anxious.
A new scientific study, published in the journal PNAS (Source 1), indeed highlights a link between regular consumption of fried foods and increased risk of depression and anxiety. The cause mentioned by the researchers: l’acrylamidea chemical substance produced during frying, which would lead to a neuroinflammation.
A fairly clear correlation
Here, the researchers analyzed data from 140,728 people over 11.3 years. The team set out to compare the participants’ levels of anxiety and depression to the eating behaviors they reported, including how often they ate fried foods.
This is how the link between frying and depression/anxiety emerged: people who reported eating fried foods frequently were more likely to be diagnosed with an anxiety or depressive disorder. Specifically, the researchers found a 12% and 7% higher risk of anxiety and depression, respectively among frying aficionados, and in particular fried potatoes.
Experiments carried out on zebrafish
Investigating the why and how of such an association, the team isolated acrylamide, which they describe as a contaminant resulting from food processing when fried in oil. Tested on zebrafish, an easy-to-handle animal model with many research benefits, this substance has reduces their sociability and ability to explore. However, the reduction of these two behaviors is associated with the equivalent, in fish, of anxious and depressive behaviors in humans.
In vitro, the team also observed a reduction in the expression of the tjp2a gene, which plays a role in the permeability of the blood-brain barrier protecting our brain. Ultimately, acrylamide would thus lead to neuroinflammation and disruption of brain lipid metabolismleading to an increased risk of depression and anxiety.
An association to clarify
If the authors of the study hasten to invite people to reduce their consumption of fries in view of these results, other voices are more cautious and measured, given the limits of this work.
“The human component of this study may indicate exactly what it claims: that higher consumption of fried foods increases the risk of anxiety/depression”, admitted Dr. David L. Katz, a doctor specializing in preventive medicine, and questioned by e-mail by our colleagues from CNN. The specialist, who did not participate in the study, however, believes that “the causal pathway could just as well go the other way: people with anxiety/depression turn to ‘comfort food‘ more and more frequently for [obtenir] a semblance of relief”. That said, it cannot be ruled out that other mechanisms are at play, in particular the disturbance of the microbiota from junk food, while our gut flora is known to have some effect on our mood.
Always with CNNDr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, believes that these results should be considered “very preliminary”. He points out that the harmful effects of fried foods also depends on the type of food and the type of fat used for frying. In addition, acrylamide can also come from coffee or the consumption of toast.
In short, as the authors of the study themselves acknowledge, other research will have to confirm this association, especially since the zebrafish – which is also relevant for other studies – remains far from humans for good aspects.
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