Too much junk food can lead to depression: Study
(CBS News) Most Americans love junk food. But a new study finds such foods can do more than expand your waistline - they can also affect your brain.
The study, in the journal Public Health Nutrition, indicates people who regularly eat commercial baked goods like doughnuts and croissants, or fast foods such as pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs, are at greater risk for depression.
In the study, done by Researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada, researchers looked at nearly 9,000 people for about six years. Participants were asked to report how frequently they ate certain foods - specifically fast foods such as burgers and fries, as well as baked goods.
At the beginning of the study, none of them had been diagnosed with depression, but by the end, almost 500 had depression. Those who ate the most fast food were 51 percent more likely to develop clinical depression than those who ate the least.
The study's findings are "really, really shocking," contributor Dr. Holly Phillips said on "CBS This Morning: Saturday."
She discussed the research, and suggested foods that might boost moods. To watch the Phillips interview, done by co-hosts Jeff Glor and Rebecca Jarvis, click on the video in the player above.