Research seems to indicate that low fat diets can cause depression. A recent article in the British Journal of Nutrition followed 20 individuals on two diets, one with 40% of calories from fat and one that started with 40% fat and after one month, switched to a diet with only 25% calories from fat. The latter group showed a 25% increase in depression and hostility from baseline.
I asked Dr. David Edelson, an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and former director of the Weight Management Clinic at North Shore-LIJ Medical Center, if low fat diets can indeed cause depression. Here’s what he advised:
It seems logical that too low a fat intake can affect both normal hormone production (through lowered cholesterol intake) as well as possible nerve and cell membrane repair that comes from healthy fat sources. Either of these could lead to the findings seen by these researchers. Omega-3 fats are vital to our health, both physical and mental.
Is Fat Bad?
Dietary fat is essential for life. Our bodies use fat to produce a huge variety of tissues and hormones including:
- Cell membranes: virtually every cell in our body has an outer layer produced from phospholipids, a derivative of fat. Without fat, the wall of the cell would collapse and the cell disintegrate.
- Myelin (nerve) sheath: the coating on nerve and brain tissue is composed of 80% fat. Without it, the nerves would not be able to talk to each other, and diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis develop.
- Hormones: virtually every hormone produced in your body starts out from the cholesterol molecule. The body uses this form of fat as the building block for estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, progesterone, and many other essential hormones required for normal body function.
What is the Recommended Daily Allowance of Fat?
This depends on the individual in question, as there is no single diet that works for every person. It also depends on the TYPE of fat being consumed. Bad fats (saturated and trans-fats) should be kept to an absolute minimum (less than 5% of daily calories.) But good fats (Omega-3′s, Mono-unsaturated fats) should be consumed with gusto, especially in individuals with diabetes, metabolic syndrome or any condition associated with insulin resistance. In these individuals we often increase healthy fat intake to 30-40% of daily caloric intake.
--
This article was originally published on Stefan Pinto's blog, Fat-to-Fit
Comments