Food and Depression
Food is a deceptively simple part of our daily lives. It can carry a range of connotations and subsequent implications on various populations. Low income families experience a variety of factors that can affect their mental and physical health. Food, and the lack thereof, is a stressor in impoverished populations. In this paper, I will examine the link between food and mental health from a sociological and a nutritional perspective. The food’s chemical impact on the brain is just as important as the access to food, both of which can create and catalyze negative effects on the brain.
Inadequate access to food is prevalent all over the world, from poverty-stricken countries to our own neighborhoods. Wealthy nations may have abundant access to food, yet food insecurity remains a problem for many. Those most affected by food insecurity are low-income families, whose access to and options for sufficient food are slim. Rates of unemployment, underemployment, declining social welfare funding, and dwindling incomes are realities for families across North America. A study by Zheng Wu and Christoph Schimmele from the University of Victoria, published in the journal Sociological Perspectives, investigated whether food insufficiency is an independant cause of depression. Their study gives insight to links between food insecurity, food insufficiency, poverty, and depression. Although it is difficult to isolate each factor, there are evident correlations between them.
Poverty is a broad issue that affects many people, and can also have influence on the mental health of affected persons. Even beyond social comparisons and stigma, poverty causes stress on adults and children. There is evidence that children living in poverty suffer from behavioral problems, depression, and lack of self confidence. Poverty can be situational, following a divorce of loss of employment, or a lifelong predicament. Several studies have established a link between poverty and depression. However because poverty can include a wide range of stressful factors, its relation to depression cannot be causally established. Food insecurity and insufficiency are more specific factors that can impact mental health.
Food insecurity, as defined by Wu and Schimmele, is the uncertain availability of food, food shortages, and restricted access to food. Food insufficiency is the combination of food insecurity, episodes of hunger, and “includes skipping meals, cutting meal portions, not eating, or losing weight because of restricted or depleted household food stores” (1). The study attempts to correlate food insufficiency and depression, although both conditions overlap.* People facing food insufficiency are subject to physical illness caused by the lack of adequate nutrients, but also mood disorders like depression and its subsequent symptoms.
Depression is one of the leading causes of disability globally. Especially in “advanced capitalist societies,” millions of people are impacted by depression and the costs are immense. Not only is treatment expensive, but depression takes a toll on the social lives, day-to-day function, and overall quality of life of those affected. According to the World Health Organization, 25% of all people will experience mental illness at some point in their lifetime.
Previous studies study the link between poverty and depression, but can only really identify indirect causes. For example, people living in poverty are more likely to be in stressful situations, and experience unhealthy work and social environments. However, food insufficiency is a more direct cause of stress, which makes its relation to depression significant. It can lower sense of control and foster feelings of guilt and shame. A person’s feeling lack of agency in their life feel out of control of negative situations and emotions. Contrastly, feelings of control can lessen depression and enable a person’s ability to overcome difficult situations. Food insecurity takes away the most basic necessity which makes it understandable that these feelings can translate to stress and guilt. Instead of enjoying family meals, food insecurity makes mealtime a worry about where and how to get food, fear of social stigma, and frustration over lack of agency. Although difficult to ascertain whether depression preceded food insecurity or manifested as a result. It is evident however than food insufficiency is a stressor, and the link creates a cycle of poverty and illness.
As we discuss the impacts of poverty and food insecurity, it is important to look at who experiences these issues and at what rates. This information gives valuable insight to sociological patterns but can also help inform potential solutions. According to a study done by professors at the University of Michigan, only 7% of white households reported food insecurity compared to 20.8% of hispanic households and 21.2% of black households. Rates of food insecurity were higher among single mothers and those living in poverty. They also found that “low-middle-income single female-headed households were 5.5 times more likely than other family types to to be food insufficient” (172). Poor black women are especially at risk for food insecurity. This study used a random sampling scheme and conducted two waves of interview of 676 women on welfare assistance in 1997 and 1998.
Food insecurity manifests both physical and mental health issues. It is the overlap of environmental constraints and nutritional and somatic symptoms. Inadequate food supply is associated with lower energy and lower nutrient intakes in women. Women in the study who reported food insecurity were more likely to report both physical health problems and depression in subsequent years. Food insufficiency was an indicator of women who met the criteria for major depression. Not only does the stress of potentially not having enough food contribute to depression, but also the lack of nutrients in the diet of food insecure households. The nutritional deprivation can be both a cause and result of depression because of its effect on the brain.
There is no doubt that depression causes adverse side effects, and so can the treatments for the disease. This has prompted some researchers to investigate the role in nutrition in the treatment and effect of depression. The field of nutritional psychology has evolved to deal with the relation of dietary patterns, vitamins and supplements, minerals, and nutrients and their effects on the brain. A study and the University of Barcelona found that children who frequently ate fast food were more likely to have ADHD, as were those who did not eat fruits, vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids. Although they did not measure depression, this establishes a link between diet, the brain, and mental illness. Omega-3s have become the topic of nutritional psychological research because of their effects on dopamine and serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter responsible for sleep, appetite, and mood regulation. Medical belief is that raising serotonin levels can aid depression, which is how SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) attempt to treat the illness.
Neurotransmitters need adequate amounts of amino acids, minerals, and B vitamins. Western diets which contain high amounts of processed foods and unhealthy fats potentially have adverse effects on mental health. People who consume refined carbohydrates, sugars, and trans-fats are much more likely to experience depression. Those whose diets included more whole foods such as fish, fruits, and vegetables were less likely. To be clear these correlations do not necessarily equate to causation. Causation is unclear because the variables are difficult to study independently. In the article published in the Journal of Medicine and Life by authors T. A. Popa and M. Ladea, “There is also the possibility that those already at greater risk of depression may tend to consume more processed food. Although the authors concluded that the lower the quality of the diet, the higher the risk of depression, cause and effect cannot be yet established.”
ICC
In order to investigate the connection between food, poverty, and depression, I reviewed several sociological sources. The field of sociology gives context to structural issues and their root causes. Food insecurity is an issue of class, race, gender, and the intersections of these social identifiers. It mostly affects low-income families living in poor neighborhoods. Their food supply is not only limited by money, but also by access to quality food and time to prepare or travel for food. Women of color and single mothers are also affected at higher rates, exacerbating the effects of food insecurity like undernutrition and depression in these communities. The studies that I referenced throughout the paper have been published in sociological journals and detail their measurement of seemingly immeasurable concepts. The access to food and underlying forces of poverty work in tandem with the quality of the food itself. It is no secret that low income people and those living in poor neighborhoods do not have easy access to high quality organic foods or the means to do so. This means mostly processed foods containing the harmful sugars and fats are the foods most accessible to the poor.
Depression can be caused by the limited access to food, and by the food itself. Understanding how different foods and their components can cause depression through a nutritional psychological lens approaches the issue from the inside out. Although more research in the area needs to be done, there is clearly a connection between what we eat and how we feel. Nutritional psychology and the biology of food help track what chemicals and compounds do what to our bodies and brains. Omega-3s and healthy fats have an effect on neurotransmitters. Doctors have attempted to manipulate neurotransmitters to treat depression with SSRIs and other depression medications. The fact that these same transmitters are affected by substances in our food shows that the molecular understanding of food is integral to our understanding of food and depression. The various disciplinary approaches to food and depression bring the analysis from the macro to micro level. Unfortunately the result is a cycle of poverty and chronic illness among the most marginalized societies.