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Study: Too Much Pasta Can Lead To Depression

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Pasta already has been maligned as a carb-heavy, fattening foodstuff in recent years, and now, a new study suggests that it might be linked to depression.

The study in the journal, "Brain, Behavior and Immunity" concluded that a dietary pattern high in carbs such as pasta can lead to a diagnosis of depression. The Nurses' Health Study spent 12 years following 43,685 women between the ages of 50 and 77, who did not have depression when the study began.

The study concluded that women who ate refined grains such as pasta, drank soft drinks, and ate fatty red meat – in what has been termed an "inflammatory dietary pattern" – were more likely to be treated for depression, according to published reports.

The high-carb diet pattern revealed increased inflammatory biomarkers in blood tests, the study said.

Out-of-control inflammation also has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer, according to published reports.

In the past decade, pasta has been maligned along with other high-carb foods as a catalyst for obesity. But Live Science argued that pasta is actually a healthy carbohydrate, and a major component of the Mediterranean diet that is considered a useful way to maintain a healthy weight.

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