A new study from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada suggests something I've always feared was true. Namely, that junk food is quantifiably bad for you in many definite ways. Specifically, that enjoying even small amounts of junk food can lead to depression. The study, published in Public Health Nutrition, revealed that consumers of junk food were 51% more likely to develop depression over the course of six months.The study sample consisted of 8,964 people who had never been diagnosed with depression or taken antidepressants. Over the six-month assessment period 493 were diagnosed with depression or started to take antidepressants.The depression culprits were commercial baked goods (fairy cakes, croissants, doughnuts, etc.) and fast food (hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza). Now, I don't know what a fairy cake is—though it sounds delicious—but I eat every single other agent of depression with alarming regularity.And you can't just curb your intake of treats: "even eating small quantities [of commercial baked goods] is linked to a significantly higher chance of developing depression."We already knew junk food makes you obese and diabetic. Now we know it makes you obese and diabetic and sad.Follow Kelly Bourdet on Twitter: @kellybourdet
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