The Incredible Benefits of Sugar for Depression | Neuronutrition Nuggets

Hello and welcome to Neuronutrition Nunkets, the segment where I talk about everything about nutrition, research and psychological science. So my name is Anika, I'm an ADHD nutrition research expert as well as an emerging Neuronutrition expert as well. So what is Neuronutrition? Neuronutrition is that intersection between the brain and nutrition and how our behavior affects all of that as well. It is essentially that umbrella of the intersection of neuroscience in psychology and nutrition. So that is what we talk about here and if you are ready to make sure that you stay on top of all this information, be sure to subscribe if you're listening on YouTube or follow the podcast if you're watching, slash listening on the podcast. All right, now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about depression. So depression is honestly something that really sucks. So I am a person who has experienced a few major depressive episodes in my life and I'm currently in remission for depression, which is fabulous and I really appreciate that. And one thing that I have done is using nutrition to help with my depression. So there's a lot of different things I could go into here, but today we are focusing mainly on the research about sugar and depression. So let's start off with the basics. Our brains and our bodies need sugar to survive. So that is something that we just got to be clear on. So glucose is the energy that our body uses to perform basically a lot of its functions. It's far better for our health in the long term to get our glucose through our diet versus through forcing our bodies to create it. If we want to force our bodies to create it, that's what is called the ketogenic diet. So it forces the body to essentially create what are called ketones, which honestly, the brain does appreciate using for a certain amount of time. However, it's really a stress on the body to be doing this long term, which is why it's not recommended unless you have a specific form of epilepsy that requires you to be doing the ketogenic diet. So there's two main ways of getting glucose through our food and it is all through carbohydrates. When we don't consume enough carbohydrates because glucose is actually essential to our bodies, our bodies do create glucose, it's called glucogenesis. And again, like I said, just like with the ketone aspect, it is stressful for our body. So it's not ideal. So the two main ways of getting the carbohydrates is through something called a high glycemic food or a low glycemic index food. So the difference between these are essentially the high glycemic index foods. They are the ones that release sugar into our bloodstream very quickly. They are actually helpful for anxiety attacks as well as brain fog. So think of high glycemic index foods as those foods that are faster sugars. So watermelon is a great example. White rice, potatoes, white bread. These are high glycemic index foods. Ideally, we are not consuming a lot of these types of foods. And if we are, we want to make sure that we're pairing them with protein because when we do not pair them with protein, over time, our blood sugar can get dysregulated, which is not a great thing if you have depression because a dysregulated blood sugar can actually worsen your depression symptoms. So that all being said, there's also low glycemic index foods. And these are the ones that release sugar slowly into the bloodstream. And it's really, really helpful for overall health. A lot of the high glycemic index foods don't contain things called resistance starch or fiber. So those are the two really important ones that help slow down that release of sugar into the bloodstream. So for low glycemic index foods, thank whole grain bread, apples, brown rice, sweet potatoes, you can get a whole list of these online if you just do a really quick Google search. Again, ideally, we are pairing these with protein. It's not as important. It's still pretty helpful though in the long run. So for optimal health, ideally, we are eating like I said, a lot of low glycemic index foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and beans. The reason is not just because they are very nutrient dense, but they also help with overall insulin regulation as well as improving our gut microbiome. And we know that the gut microbiome is so, so, so important for our overall health, our immune system and also for our mental health. So and like I said, optimally, we are eating these with protein. Again, the reason for this is because it further slows down that uptake of glucose so that it doesn't overwhelm our bodies. So now that we got this sugar aspect out of the way, let's talk about the arguments against sugar for depression because I'm sure when you clicked on this, you were like, what the heck? How could sugar actually help depression? I've heard the complete opposite for the end, like my entire life. But I totally get it. So let's go over the few reasons why people think that sugar could make depression worse. So to start off with, there are many studies that have shown a link between sugar consumption and depression risk. In fact, one of them found that consuming more than 141 grams of sugar a day was associated with a increased risk for depression. This was after controlling for a lot of variables and really underneath that, we didn't see a statistical increase in symptoms, but it was a 20% increase with the 140 grams of sugar a day. And this was including sugars from fruits. So we want to keep that in mind as well. And then there's also constant messaging that sugar causes inflammation and inflammation is bad for our mental health. We have some theories out there that depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, a lot of these are connected to inflammation in the brain. And so obviously we want to make sure we're not adding inflammation to that, right? So the sugar causes inflammation. And this is true as well because too much of a good thing is a bad thing. And then there's also the aspect of sugar's negative impact on the gut microbiome. We talked about that a little bit. How the gut microbiome is very, very important for just general overall health as well as mental health and our immune system. And then there's also sugar's negative impacts on blood sugar regulation. And like I said, yeah, those are all true. However, they do not capture the whole story. So to start off with sugar consumption only increases chronic inflammation when it's consumed in excess as well as only consumed in high doses. So think your boba tea or your frappe from Starbucks or the soda. And then sugar also only negatively impacts our gut microbiome when it's consumed in excess. And then sugar also only negatively impacts our blood sugar, like how our body uses glucose when well, I think you're getting the point, right? The issue here when white is just constantly being missed from this conversation is that the issue isn't sugar. The issue is excess sugar. So the biggest just thing here, if you get anything out of this conversation before I get into the sugar, how it might actually help your depression conversation, I really want us to just focus on following the dietary guidelines. So the who or the world health organization, which is one of the best ways to get the best health advice says that we should only be getting about 5% of our sugar, like our added sugar, not specifically sugar, like all the sugars in your fruits are fantastic. We love the sugar in fruits. We only want about 5% of our added sugars of our calories. So what that looks like for say a 2000 calorie diet, that is 25 grams, which is half of a can of soda. So needless to say, a lot of us are consuming a lot more added sugar than what is actually in the dietary requirements. We don't tend to see long term adverse effects of sugar consumption until about 10%. So that's more like closer to 50 grams of sugar for a 2000, oh my gosh, 2000 calorie diet, but just know that ideally we're moving toward that 5%. All right. So now that we covered that, let's talk about the case for sugar for depression. So this is where things get a little interesting. So we do have evidence that sugar actually dampens the HPA access. So essentially what that means is when we consume sugar, biologically it reduces our stress response and improves cortisol regulation. and they found that it wasn't dose dependent, but rather it was frequency dependent. They also found that non-sure additives, so like saccharine, aspartame, they produced similar effects to sugar. So this means that sugar or sweet tasting foods actually reduce our stress and improve our cortisol regulation. And it helps more when we consume it throughout our day, like often through our day, rather than all at one time. Interesting, right? Again, we want to remember not over-consuming sugar. However, sugar has its place. It is actually important for our stress responses. And then, when we looked at this study, we found that the sugar depression connection disappears, when we control for stress. What that means is that it's not sugar that's increasing our depression. Rather, the stress is increasing both sugar consumption as well as depression. And we just talked about how sugar decreases the stress. So therefore, sugar is more of a just biological response to go back into regulation. It's one of our body's ways of trying to help us. It's a craving. And a lot of the times, we should actually honor these cravings. So interestingly, I do want to say here, they found that sugar-sweetened beverages were still associated with depression. So again, that was that high dose sugar all at one time, that impacted depression. So why might this be? Honestly, besides the fact that we're over-consuming sugar when we are consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, which again, not good for us because that could lead to inflammation, what we see is that it actually impacts how our dopamine receptors work and there's preliminary evidence that it might impact how our serotonin receptors work. So therefore, it's honestly in our best interest to completely avoid, if possible, any sort of sugar-sweetened beverages whenever you are feeling that downswing into depression, or if you are predisposed to depression. So take that as you will. And then this last study I want to talk about, this study found that a genetically higher predicted sugar intake had a causal protective effect on the risk of developing major depressive disorder. A.K.A., the people who were genetically more likely to consume more sugar had a lower risk of developing depression. This suggests that consuming sugar when you start to feel a downswing might actually prevent you from having as extreme of a downswing. And that goes along really well with that research we talked about with stress, depression, how stress is actually one of those key components in increasing our sugar consumption as well as increasing our depression. So super fascinating, right? It kind of goes against a lot of the conventional wisdom about how sugar is just this enemy. When in reality, we can actually use it as a tool. Again, I'm not saying over-consume your sugar, however I am saying that, honestly, maybe we should listen to our bodies. Our bodies have evolved and they have learned and they've grown to help protect us and help keep us safe. And so when we listen to them, sometimes if you have ADHD, you know listening to your bodies, maybe not always the best idea. I get that. However, it is still important to start to understand your cravings, start to understand where they're coming from and then learn more about them, be curious. So essentially, when we put everything together, here's what we actually get. It's most likely that sugar protects us against depression rather than exacerbating it when we consume it at appropriate consumption levels. So again, the 5 to 10% of our calories, which is tops 50 grams if you're an adult a day. And ideally, we are not consuming it all at one time because that specifically is increasing our risk of depression or increased depressive symptoms. Like I said, it's optimal to follow the dietary guidelines regarding sugar intake because we want to ensure that the negatives of overconsumption of sugar don't happen, such as that low-grade inflammation, oxidative stress, bacterial overgrowth in the gut, and a lot of different types of hormonal dysregulations, all of which can definitely contribute to depression. So based on the evidence, here's what I personally do regarding sugar and depression as a person who's studied this and as a person who has depression myself, or my guess not anymore, thankfully. So I follow the dietary recommendations regarding added sugars. That being said, of course, there's going to be days when I eat more sugar than ideally. And in general, I don't over consume sugars, added sugars specifically. So there's also ones about the sugar-sweetened beverages. So in general, similar to the dietary guidelines regarding added sugar, I just don't consume a lot of sugar-sweetened beverages. And yeah, the dietary guidelines do actually recommend against consuming your soda and your coffee order. So I've all about just swarov frappies, alcoholic drinks, tonne non-diet soda, and then also boba tea as much as I love boba tea. Okay, like, it's so good. But yeah, I still have some of that every so often, but definitely not every week, let alone every single day. So if you get anything out of this, my main goal for you is to think about your sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and how can you work on reducing it? If you're having one every day, maybe start having one every other day. If you're having one every other day, maybe start having just one a week. If you're having one a week, then maybe just start having like one a month. I know it can be really hard though, because it can feel very deducting. Like honestly, it can feel very deducting. So if behavioral changes something that you're struggling with, I recommend working with especially a mental health-informed dietitian to help you work through these different types of things. And then a therapist could also be helpful here. And then the last thing that I do is I follow the dietary recommendations regarding fruit. So eating fruit is actually one of the best things you can do, not just for your brain, but also for your blood sugar regulation. Many different fruits have actually been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, including kiwis and oranges. They also contain plenty of antioxidants. And if you have ADHD, ADHD is actually biologically need more antioxidants than the general population. And there's this huge correlation with ADHD and depression, so I just want to throw that in there as well. And then also if you have ADHD, make sure that you're not taking specific stimulant medication with those different types of fruits that have a lot of vitamin C in it. Just talk to your pharmacist about that to make sure that your specific medication isn't the one that interacts with it. You can definitely have it, just make sure it's not like in that two-hour window. And then they also contain a lot of polyphenols. So fruit has one of the best polyphenol count. They improve cognitive function. And then they also have a lot of fiber, especially if you're having the fruits like not in juice form. So if you do consume juice, make sure that it has the pulp with it as well, ideally in order to improve your insulin regulation. So oranges specifically have been found to reduce depression risk, which is super fascinating and it's why I personally drink a glass of orange juice every day or have an orange almost every single day. So honestly, I could probably make an entire post about oranges and depression. It's super fascinating. Maybe I will. But yeah. So does sugar help with your depression or doesn't hurt it? At the end of the day, it's very complex. And overconsumption of anything is going to harm us. So just be cognizant of what you're actually doing, all right? And then also just know that there is a reason that you crave sweets when you start to feel depression coming. And it might be wise to listen to your body and maybe consider eating an orange every day. All right. Well, thank you so much for just popping in and watching all of this. If you are listening on Patreon or watching on Patreon, hello, I appreciate every single thing that you do for me and I hope that you just enjoy the community that we have. And if you are not on Patreon, I do have the link in the description to join. It is a paid community for $13 a month. You get access to group chat. You also get access to a bunch of resources that I compiled for you to take the evidence for ADHD nutrition into actual practice because I know it's a little hard. You also get access to me Monday through Friday, 9-5, and I will respond to your TMs. All right. Thank you so much for being here and I'll see you next time. (upbeat music)