Could Quitting Ultra-Processed Food Boost Your Mental Health?
The pilot study found participants cut ultra-processed food intake by more than 85% and saw moderate to large gains in depression scores.
- On September 23, 2026, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco published a study in JAMA Psychiatry suggesting that reducing ultra-processed food intake may significantly lower symptoms of depression in adults.
- Chagwedera, founder of the UCSF Metabolic and Mental Health Program, explained that ultra-processed foods may damage the gut's protective lining, creating inflammation that either causes depression or increases vulnerability to it.
- Twenty adults with depression participated in the pilot, where an 85% reduction in ultra-processed food intake saw depression scores fall from a baseline of 21.6 to about 8.
- Anxiety scores improved modestly throughout the trial, with no adverse events reported, suggesting dietary changes may offer tangible mental health benefits for those living with depression.
- Senior author Andrew Krystal, Ray and Dagmar Dolby Distinguished Professor in UCSF's departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neurology, said the pilot "successfully established the viability" of larger-scale trials needed to clarify which dietary factors drive mood improvement.
22 Articles
22 Articles
REDUCING the intake of ultra-processed foods significantly alleviates symptoms of depression, confirming the important link between diet quality and mental health.
A pack of crispy fries, a soda soda, the snack packed ready in thirty seconds: for many they represent the perfect refuge after a tiring day. Yet, that immediate pleasure could cost much more than the price of the receipt. A new and intriguing pilot studio led by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), published in the magazine JAMA Psychiatry, suggests a fascinating as disturbing truth: drastically cutting the ultra-processed foods i…
The ultra-processed foods that flood shopping carts and supermarket shelves have no positive effects on our body. Although they are usually options...
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