A German study has found that drinking soft drinks may be linked to a higher risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) and more severe symptoms, especially in women.
The researchers suggest this could be partly due to changes in gut bacteria, particularly an increase in the bacterial group Eggerthella.
The study looked at 405 people with MDD (about 68 percent women) and 527 healthy participants (about 66 percent women), all aged 18 to 65. Results showed that each additional daily soft drink increased the overall risk of MDD by about 8 percent.
This effect was mainly seen in women. For the 620 women in the study, each extra daily soft drink was linked to a 17 percent higher chance of having MDD. In men, however, soft drink intake didn't seem to make a difference.
When the team assessed depression severity using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-I), they again found a clear connection between soft drink consumption and worse symptoms—driven mostly by women. The same was true when looking only at patients who already had MDD.
Importantly, these associations remained strong even after accounting for body mass index (BMI). The researchers also found no major differences between medicated and unmedicated patients.
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