FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:
This comprehensive review provides an up-to-date summary and evaluation of research investigating how high sugar consumption - a standard feature of typical modern, western-type diets - affects brain function and mental health.
The findings confirm that excessive sugar intakes have damaging effects on brain development and function, and increase risks for anxiety, depression and other mental health disorders.
In addition, high sugar intakes increase impulsivity and sugar cravings, while also impairing attention and cognition - leading to further over-consumption of sugary foods and drinks.
There is now compelling evidence that sugar is addictive (in any meaningful sense of that word), and as the authors explicitly state in their highlights:
"Addiction, stress, fear, anxiety and depression involve overlapping neural mechanisms".For more research on links between sugar and mood disorders, see:
See also: