Does Eating Fried Food Make You Anxious Or Depressed?

I have a weakness for french fries, I can eat them for all my meals and not get sick of it. Hence, I was not happy when I read that high fried food consumption (particularly potatoes) can affect your mental health.

This recently published study studied data on depression, eating patterns and anxiety levels on eating patterns of 140,278 people collected over 11 years. Subjects diagnosed with depression in the first 2 years were excluded. Follwing that, the researchers found 8,294 cases of anxiety and 12,735 cases of depression in people who ate fried food.

All in all, the researchers found that people who regularly ate fried food (particularly fried potatoes like french fries) were 12 percent more likely to be anxious and 7 percent higher risk of depression compared to those who did not eat fried food. Those who ate fried potatoes had a 2 percent higher risk of depression than those who eat fried chicken (white meat). The associations were more pronounced among male and younger consumers.

The researchers suggested that a chemical called acrylamide formed during frying is responsible for the higher risk of depression and anxiety. This affects the brain lipid (fat) metabolism and affects permeabilty of the blood brain barrier inducing stress mediated neuro (brain) inflammation. 

An earlier study on 715 Japanese workers (Yoshikawa et al, 2016) also found that there was a "significant positive indirect association" between eating fried food and experiencing depression. The Japanese authors concluded that "frequency of fried food consumption was associated with lower resilience to depression".

I need to point out that the researchers did not prove that eating fried food actually caused anxiety and depression. They merely found a link between eating fried food and an increased risk of anxiety and depression.

The researchers also did not determine whether people were more likely to become anxious and depressed from eating fried food or because they ate fried food when they were feeling down. We all know that fried food is comfort food for many people. People who are feeling anxious or depressed may turn to fried food for comfort.

People who are feeling down and depressed may also have less energy to prepare their own meals. They may then resort to easy and fast (fried) food as do people with overwhelmingly busy schedules. High trans fat in fast food is linked to inflammation leading to mood disorders. Being low in nutrients, fried food also contributes to poor overall diet quality.

So, are we supposed to consume less fried food? Eating too much fried food affects your gut (stomach) microbiome and when your gut does not feel great, it affects your physically and emotionally. 

We definitely need more research to look at how food, weight, diet, mood and other factors interact and affect us. For now, I will continue to eat french fries, but in much smaller amounts.

References

Wang A, Wan X, Zhuang P et el (2023). High Fried Food Consumption Impacts Anxiety And Depression Due To Lipid Metabolism Disturbance And Neuroinflammation. PNAS. 120(18) e2221097120. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221097120.

Yoshikawa E, Nishi D and Matsuoka YJ (2016). Association Between Frequency Of Fried Food Consumption And Resilience To Depression In Japanese Company Workers: A Cross-sectional Study. Lipids Health Dis. 15:156. DOI: 10.1186/s12944-016-0331-3.