Eating more vegetables can lead to ‘blues,’ study claims…but experts eat beef in study
- Vegetarians experienced twice as many episodes of depression as meat eaters
- Researchers claim it may be due to the ‘social experience’ vegetables endure
- But they also acknowledged it may be because more depressed people are turning to dieting.
Research suggests that vegetarians may be more prone to depression.
Studies show that people who stop eating meat experience twice as many depressive episodes as those who stick to animal products.
Brazilian experts say this may be due to the “social experience” vegetables endure, such as being teased for their choice of vegetables.
But it’s not necessarily abstaining from meat that’s to blame, they admitted. Instead, depressed people may turn to a vegetable diet.
Alternatively, other factors that connect the two may explain the association.
According to Dr. Chris Bryant, a psychologist at the University of Bath, this could include “exposure to images of the violent meat industry.”
Vegetarians may be more prone to depression than meat eaters, study suggests
write in conversation“Preventing animal cruelty is the most common reason given by vegetarians to avoid meat.
Cruelty documentaries like Dominion and Earthlings aren’t exactly comfortable films.
“It’s easy to imagine that people who consume this kind of media become vegetarians and become depressed, especially when most people choose to look the other way.”
A vegetarian diet does not necessarily require people to eat more vegetables. It can be equally unhealthy.
This research Affective Disorder Journal.
Researchers tracked the eating habits of 14,216 Brazilian adults between the ages of 35 and 74 using a food questionnaire.
Brazil is notorious for its high meat consumption, and despite the country’s recent rise in vegetarianism, only 82 of those surveyed did not eat meat.
They compared this with the amount of depressive episodes.
This was measured using interviews with trained psychiatrists who asked them to recall how they were feeling.
Taking into account lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI), vegetarians were found to have 2.37 times more episodes of meat eating.
Differences between meat eaters and non-meat eaters remained even after accounting for nutritional differences in diets such as calories, fat, carbohydrates and protein.
A researcher from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul wrote in the journal:
“Undernutrition does not explain this association. The nature of the association remains unclear and long-term data are needed to clarify causality.
Experts also criticized the study, arguing that because it was not a controlled study, it could not prove whether vegetarianism actually caused depression.
Mary Mosquera-Cochrane, a registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who was not involved in the study, said the findings may apply only to Brazilians.
“Researchers found that dietary quality was associated to some extent with increased rates of depression, but did not fully explain the association.
“Currently, it is estimated that 5-14% of Brazilians eat a vegetarian-style diet, so this sample may not reflect all vegetarians in Brazil.”
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