Eating fast food significantly increases the risk of becoming depressed, researchers have claimed.
The findings are the second by Spanish researchers on the issue and those who eat fast food facing a 50 per cent increase in risk of succumbing to depression.
The research in Granada and the Canary Islands involved studying nearly 9,000 people without any record of becoming depressed.
Over a six month period some 493 were diagnosed with depression.
Researcher Almudena Sánchez-Villegas said there was also a "dose response" – meaning that those who ate the most fast food were most likely to suffer mental illness.
The researchers say eating fast food was linked to other risk factors – such as being single and less active than others.
Researcher Almudena Sánchez-Villegas said: "Although more studies are necessary, the intake of this type of food should be controlled because of its implications on both health and mental well-being.”
Fast-food and commercial baked goods consumption and the risk of depression. Almudena Sánchez-Villegas, Estefanía Toledo, Jokin de Irala, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Jorge Pla-Vidal and Miguel A Martínez-González. Public Health Nutrition doi:10.1017/S1368980011001856
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