Are you one of the millions of people who need a caffeine boost during the day? Do you find your energy lacking, particularly in the afternoon or early evening? Do you look forward to that diet soda or drink to rev your engine and get you back into the swing of things? While this is a popular strategy, a new study reveals that there could be a link between artificial sweeteners and depression, so we encourage you to take a look at the information below to start thinking about making some adjustments to your routine.

We’ve discussed the link between diet and mental health in the past, and not surprisingly, healthier diets tend to lead to better mental health outcomes. However, people from all walks of life have long thought that diet or sugar free drinks were a relatively healthier alternative to those with a full amount of sugar. We’ll leave some of that discussion to nutritionists when it comes to physical health, but depression is obviously a serious problem, and any preventative steps that someone can take are beneficial.

About the Artificial Sweeteners and Depression Study

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health collaborated on the study. 32,000 female nurses served as the subjects. It ran between 2003 and 2017, and none of the nurses had ever been diagnosed with depression when the study began.

The researchers used validated Food Frequency Questionnaires, or FFQs, every four years to find out what the subjects were eating and drinking. Among many other things that we’ll discuss below, the study revealed that the nurses who consumed the largest number of UPFs, or Ultra Processed Foods, fared the worst with regards to several types of health. Further, the study broke down UPFs into more specific categories that included:

• Ultra processed grain foods
• Sweet snacks
• Ready-to-eat meals
• Fats and sauces
• Ultra processed dairy products
• Savory snacks
• Processed meat
• Beverages
• Artificial sweeteners

The nurses who consumed artificially sweetened beverages and with the most regularity faced a much higher risk of depression diagnosis than those who consumed less. Specifically, those who fell into this cohort faced a 37 percent higher risk of depression.

In addition, nurses who lowered their UPF consumption by three servings or more between four-year periods saw their risk of depression drop compared to those whose UPF consumption levels remained consistent.

See the graphic below, from the study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA.

Figure.  Ultra Processed Foods (UPF) Components and Risk of Incident Depression

Credit: JAMA Network

You can read the entire study here.

Not Just Artificial Sweeteners and Depression

In addition to the link between artificial sweeteners and depression, other studies have established potential links between sweeteners and other mental illnesses. For example, this study revealed a potential relationship between aspartame, an extremely common sweetener, and anxiety. Finally, an article that appeared last year in Newsweek Magazine discussed the potential link between aspartame and other serious problems that include:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Obesity
• Mood disorders
• Behavioral disorders
• Hormonal disruption
• Damage to DNA

Any one of these potential risks would be enough for a lot of people to put down their drinks that contain artificial sweeteners, but that isn’t really happening in the United States as quickly as one would hope.

The American Diet Soft Drink Market

One important factor to consider is that when we are talking about drinks that contain artificial sweeteners, we are talking about big business at its very definition. While there is no undisputed statistic, estimates indicate that the soft drink market in the United States generates nearly $150 billion in revenue every year. In addition, Americans consume more than 40 gallons of soft drinks every year on a per capita basis.

This report indicates that of that total soft drink market in the United States, diet sodas represent 27 percent of spending. That amounts to $40.5 billion Americans spend on diet sodas every year. To put that number in perspective, consumer spending on alcohol during the pandemic stood at nearly $90 billion. Diet sodas are nearly half that size, and the soft drink industry overall dwarfs alcohol spending.

Quick Facts About Depression

Not only is depression dangerous for obvious reasons, it’s also extremely prevalent in the United States. According to Gallup Research, 29 percent of American adults have been diagnosed with depression during their lifetimes. Broken down, that means that more than 72 million adults have been through this very difficult ordeal.

We have a full analysis of depression here, but the bottom line is that if you’re feeling as though all is lost, if you’re losing interest in things you love and you just feel that something is very wrong, you should trust your instincts. Depression can spiral out of control to the point where serious, if not permanent consequences can result.

In the meantime, we would all do well to pay attention to things that could cause or at least influence the development of depression. Based on the study mentioned above, artificially sweetened drinks may be one of them. Almost all of us could stand to eat and drink healthier, and as we’ve shown several times, those benefits extend beyond the physical and into the realm of mental health.

How SoCal Empowered Can Help

The “good” news with regards to all of this is that depression can be treated and successfully managed. SoCal Empowered offers different types of treatment for different situations, and the first thing you should do is contact us if you’re concerned about yourself or a loved one. We will listen to your situation and help you put a plan together that will hopefully give you hope for a return to health.

It all starts with a conversation, though. Contact us today to have it.