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A team of researchers from Victoria have established a clear link between depression and diet in teenagers. Depression becomes more common when children reach puberty but it is not only due to their hormonal changes.

Dr Felice Jacka from University of Melbourne who led the research found that the more junk food the teenagers consume, the more likely they are to be depressed.

Dr Jacka and her team in the study, reviewed surveys collected around 7,000 young people in 2006 from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute.

The researchers found that those who were lower on the healthy diet score had higher depression levels. On the contrary, those who had score higher had much lower depression levels.

The researchers have also look into factors such as the family environment, education status of parents, socio-economic status, age and gender in their study.

Although there is no definite answer that diet causes depression in teenagers but there is association relating to them. Previous research from Spain Britain has also established such causal link.

Dr Jacka and her team said that further tests need to be conducted to ascertain the direction this relationship is going in.

Depression is a major public health problem. The World Health Organization has estimated that it is going to be the second most common cause of disability in the world over the next decade.

Dr Jacka said that the condition of depression have to be looked at seriously.

She adds that if the potential exists to actually reduce the risk in the population through public health messages, they need to work hard to develop the evidence base for and get some policies in place.

jm

Depression