A new study has revealed that significantly reducing consumption of highly processed foods or fast food can lead to improvement in depression symptoms.

This initial research, conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, has been published in the medical journal JAMA Psychiatry.

The study involved 20 adults with severe depression who regularly ate large amounts of highly processed foods (poultry foods, fast food).

Participants ate their normal diet for 4 weeks while consuming a diet based on reducing highly processed foods during the next 4 weeks, in which the consumption of highly processed foods was reduced by more than 85%.

According to the researchers, reductions in highly processed foods showed moderate to significant improvements in three different measures of depression symptoms, while anxiety symptoms also decreased somewhat.

Highly processed foods included packaged snacks and sweets, sugary drinks, fast food, prepared meals, certain packaged bakery products, and processed meats.

Researchers say that possible links between diet and depression may lie in the gut-brain connection, inflammation in the body and dietary quality, but a direct link between highly processed foods and depression has yet to be proven.

The study involved only 20 people and was of short duration, so the researchers say that larger and longer-term studies are needed on this topic.

The research was not even intended to prove that highly processed foods directly cause depression.

Medical experts have made it clear that depression is a serious medical condition and that diet should not be considered a substitute for treatment, medication or psychotherapy, and changes in treatment should only be made with the advice of a doctor.

According to the researchers, enrollment of participants in the second phase of the study is expected to begin in 2028.

Note: This article is published for the information of readers, follow your physician’s advice on health related matters.