Depression May Worsen Obesity

Depression May Worsen Obesity.
New study provides more evidence of a identify with between depression and extra pounds around the waist, although it's not exactly clear how they're connected. The mull over raises the possibility that depression causes people to put on extra pounds around the belly. The antithesis doesn't appear to be the case: researchers found that overweight people aren't more likely to become depressed than their normal-weight peers.

These findings come from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who examined evidence from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (CARDIA), a 20-year longitudinal swat of more than 5100 men and women old 18-30. Longitudinal studies look for a link between cause and effect by observing a association of individuals at regular intervals over a long period of time.

Among other things, the researchers wanted to depend on out if depressed people were more likely to have larger waist circumferences and a higher BMI, and how that changed over time. They found that over a 15-year period, all the subjects put on some pounds, but those who were depressed gained cross faster.

And "Those who started out reporting hilarious levels of depression gained weight at a faster appraise than others in the study, but starting out overweight did not lead to changes in depression," said study co-author Belinda Needham, an second professor of sociology, in a university press release. Since the note hormone cortisol is related to depression and abdominal obesity, Needham speculated that elevated levels might disclose why depressed people tend to gain more belly fat.

So "Our study is prominent because if you are interested in controlling obesity, and ultimately eliminating the risk of obesity-related diseases, then it makes brains to treat people's depression. It's another reason to take depression seriously and not to think about it just in terms of balmy health, but to also think about the physical consequences of mental health problems" learn more. The investigate appears in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.