SAEDNEWS: How Negative Emotions Influence Eating—and When Depression Can Cause Lasting Weight Changes
According to the Family Health Service at Saed News, food and mood are closely connected. When you’re feeling down, you might think that eating a bag of chips will lift your spirits—or, conversely, that stress has drained your appetite entirely.
The Connection Between Depression and Weight
Dr. Roger McIntyre, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of Toronto, explains that weight gain and depression can stem from social, environmental, and biological factors. For instance, people who experience financial insecurity or difficult childhoods are at higher risk for both obesity and depression.
Obesity and Environmental Factors
“Living in areas surrounded by fast-food restaurants and chain stores, while far from grocery stores offering fresh produce, makes healthy eating more challenging,” McIntyre notes. Research shows that people with depression are more likely to become obese, and those who are obese face a higher risk of depression.
Dr. Rodrigo Mansour, another psychiatrist at the University of Toronto, adds that this relationship is the classic “chicken or the egg” dilemma. Scientists are still untangling the complex network of factors behind these links.
Why Depression Can Affect Eating Habits
“It’s not as simple as saying people become depressed, lose motivation to exercise, eat more, and gain weight,” Mansour says. One hallmark symptom of depression is the loss of interest and pleasure in activities—a condition known clinically as anhedonia. Scientists believe this stems from the brain’s reward system, which can make once-enjoyable activities feel meaningless.
Take eating, for example. Your mouth detects flavors like sweetness or savoriness, but the pleasure of eating is processed in your brain. If the reward system is impaired, you may seek extra food to compensate for lost pleasure.
Depression can also disrupt impulse and stimulus control. Studies show that people with depression are at higher risk for insecure relationships. Similar cognitive disturbances can trigger eating disorders such as binge eating or bulimia.
The stress hormone cortisol may play a role as well. It is linked to insulin resistance and obesity. While stress can initially suppress appetite, chronic stress can raise insulin levels, lower blood sugar, and increase cravings for sweet and fatty foods.
Elizabeth Prince, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, notes that in rare cases, depressed individuals may experience cognitive distortions that shift their worldview in ways that affect weight.
Breaking the Cycle
Depression manifests differently in each individual, so treatments should be tailored to the person’s unique circumstances.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all cure for depression,” Prince says. “Treatment is highly individual, and people should work closely with a doctor who knows them well.”
She adds that a comprehensive treatment plan addressing both depression and weight is ideal, “because the two clearly influence each other.”
For McIntyre, the first question he asks patients is whether they are sleeping well. He sometimes prescribes medication and emphasizes healthy nutrition. Ultimately, he encourages patients to engage in some form of physical activity. His research shows that even moderate activity—walking to work or school—improves outcomes for antidepressant treatment.
“Obviously, I’m not suggesting everyone run a marathon,” he says, “but everyone should stay active in some way.”
The reality is that there is no universal prescription for treating depression and weight issues. McIntyre concludes, “There’s no one comprehensive treatment, but ongoing research and data may lead to better, evidence-based approaches to address both conditions.”
