{"id":481913,"date":"2024-01-10T14:00:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T19:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/vicious-cycle-depression-and-weight-gain-often-go-together-drugs-com-mednews\/"},"modified":"2024-01-10T20:35:21","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T01:35:21","slug":"vicious-cycle-depression-and-weight-gain-often-go-together-drugs-com-mednews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/vicious-cycle-depression-and-weight-gain-often-go-together-drugs-com-mednews\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicious Cycle: Depression and Weight Gain Often Go Together – Drugs.com MedNews","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Medically reviewed<\/a> by Drugs.com.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter<\/p>\n

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 10, 2024 — A bout of depression can trigger a bump in body weight among people struggling with obesity, a new study has found.<\/p>\n

People who had an increase in symptoms related to depression experienced an increase in their weight a month later, researchers report in the journal PLOS One<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, this suggests that individuals with overweight or obesity are more vulnerable to weight gain in response to feeling more depressed,\u201d lead researcher Julia Mueller<\/a> from the University of Cambridge\u2019s Medical Research Council said in a university news release.<\/p>\n

The results support prior research pointing to a link between weight and mental health, with each potentially influencing the other.<\/p>\n

For the study, researchers examined data from more than 2,000 adults in the United Kingdom who were participating in a COVID-19 study.<\/p>\n

Participants completed monthly digital questionnaires on their mental well-being and body weight, using a mobile app. Questions in the study assessed each person\u2019s symptoms of depression, anxiety and perceived stress.<\/p>\n

For every incremental increase in a person\u2019s usual depression score, their weight increased by about a tenth of a pound one month later, results show.<\/p>\n

It might seem like a small weight gain, but researchers noted that if a person\u2019s depression rose from five to 10 on the scale they used, it would relate to an average weight gain of a half-pound.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the weight gain was relatively small, even small weight changes occurring over short periods of time can lead to larger weight changes in the long-term, particularly among those with overweight and obesity,\u201d Mueller said.<\/p>\n

This effect was only observed in people who are overweight or obese, researchers said. People with a healthy weight did not appear to gain weight as their mood fluctuated.<\/p>\n

The researchers also found no evidence that stress or anxiety prompted weight gain, or that a person\u2019s weight predicted any increase in depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople with a high BMI are already at greater risk from other health conditions, so this could potentially lead to a further deterioration in their health,\u201d Mueller said. (BMI is short for body mass index, an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.) <\/p>\n

\u201cMonitoring and addressing depressive symptoms in individuals with overweight or obesity could help prevent further weight gain and be beneficial to both their mental and physical health,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

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Sources<\/h2>\n