A small but interesting connection between obesity and oxytocin ("the cuddle hormone". While this article discusses potential use of oxytocin as a medicine to treat obesity, I wonder if there could be more research on how human connection impacts obesity ...
Parents struggling with food insecurity can experience heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. These pressures may negatively affect their parenting, which may in turn affect the behavior of their children. In this study, we investigated the parenting aggravation levels of parents who experienced food insecurity in the aftermath of the Great Recession. We also explored the extent to which such aggravation may be responsible for the link between food insecurity and children’s...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/more-and-more-research-points-to-mindfulness--not-certain-foods--for-weight-loss/2018/03/05/2aa25d48-1c00-11e8-b2d9-08e748f892c0_story.html?utm_term=.fba35e64ac47
A poor diet is a leading risk factor for early death, responsible for one in five deaths globally. Depression, meanwhile, is the leading cause of disability worldwide. A relatively new line of research suggests the two might be related: An unhealthy diet might make us depressed, and depression, in turn, makes us feel even sicker. ...
“For example, aerobic exercise has been shown to enhance it, while lack of sleep and stress can impair it – so there may be a link between these lifestyle factors and overeating via their impacts on the brain.” https://neurosciencenews.com/neuroscience-food-cravings-9598/
"A diet high in saturated fats and sugars, the so-called 'Western Diet', actually affects the parts of the brain that are important to memory and make people more likely to crave the unhealthful food -- Research from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience found that obese people have less white matter in their brains than their lean peers — as if their brains were 10 years older." ...
"Neuroscientists have found that food and recreational drugs have a common target in the 'reward circuit' of the brain, and that the brains of humans and other animals who are stressed undergo biological changes that can make them more susceptible to addiction. -- [People] will literally have a different brain depending on [their] zip code, social circumstance, and stress level." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/opinion/sunday/what-cookies-and-meth-have-in-common.html
"Once we've sourced our food, the next step is preparing it. This part of the process can also be an avenue for enhancing teen mental health – particularly when young people approach cooking as a creative activity that they enjoy doing with and for others. A recent study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology followed more than 650 young adults. Each day, they reported how much time they spent on creative activities and how they felt that day. The researchers found that the...
Raw fruits and vegetables may play a role in improving mental health, according to a new study by the University of Otago. Researchers have found that people who eat more uncooked produce tend to have fewer symptoms of depression and other mental illness, compared to those who eat cooked, canned or processed versions. More than 400 people aged between 18 and 25 were asked about their typical consumption of fruit and vegetables, including which varieties they ate and how they were prepared.
A recent study found that consumption of green leafy vegetables may help slow the decline in cognitive abilities—or brain function—in older adults. The study by researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts found that those who ate about one-and-a-half servings of green leafy vegetables per day had the cognitive functioning of people roughly eleven years younger than those who ate little or no leafy greens. The finding is striking given that...
The strong link between sugar and depression. A number of food ingredients can cause or aggravate depression, but one of the most significant is sugar, particularly refined sugar and processed fructose. 12 For example, in one study, men consuming more than 67 grams of sugar per day were 23 percent more likely to develop anxiety or depression over the course of five years compared to those whose sugar consumption was less than 40 grams per day (which is still far higher than the 25 grams per...