Carbohydrates cause depression?

Lots of people reach for a big plate full of pasta or some other food whenever they're feeling down, and the latest research suggests that doing so does more harm than good.

Research has found that people who eat a lot of carbohydrates are more prone to depression.

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health have combined twelve years of research into the link between carbohydrate consumption and depression.

They recruited 43 women who had never struggled with depression and asked them about their diets.

The results showed that women who ate a lot of red meat, pasta and bread were between twenty-nine and forty percent more likely to develop depression. Those who consumed olive oil, coffee, wine and fish have less chance of developing a bad mood.

The researchers couldn't say whether carbohydrates cause depression or whether people simply turn to them when they're feeling down.

Previous research by Dr. Judith Wurtman, a former scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her husband, Dr. Richard Wurtman, showed that people crave carbohydrates when their levels of the happy hormone, serotonin, drop.

"We found that over the years, people experience carbohydrate cravings every day between four thirty and five in the afternoon."

However, not all experts agree with the Wurtmans. Dr. Edward Abramson believes that people crave carbohydrates because they are already depressed, so carbohydrates are their comfort food.

Another study showed that sweet food can make depression worse because it provides an instant fix, and people feel worse later.