When a person keeps to a strict diet, the neurochemistry of the brain changes, leading to depression.
This was stated by Stephanie Fulton from the University of Montreal (Canada). She had been conducting experiments on animals for six weeks: one group of mice received a low-fat diet (the level of fat was 11% of the total energy intake), and the other group of animals was given fatty meals (58% of fat). The animals from the second group predictably gained weight (their “waistline” increased by 11%). But the scientists were interested in the processes that occurred in the brains of both groups of the mice during meals.
According to The Telegraph, the mice from the second group began to respond to fatty foods by means of the increased production of dopamine (one of the hormones that the body produces when having pleasant sensations). Once the group faced the decrease of fat in their daily diet, the rodents showed signs of anxiety, and some animals began to develop fear of open spaces.
The scientists believe that this experience once again confirms the need to study the so-called “diet depression” – an anxious and depressed state of mind, which sometimes occurs in people, who have decided to abruptly turn to a healthy lifestyle.
