英语听力文摘597 快餐和抑郁之间有联系吗？

According to data posted on McDonalds’ famous Golden Arches, the fast food giant has servedbillions of customers around the world. It’s safe to assume that other fast food purveyors such asBurger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and others have dished out a roughly equal amount of friedchicken, burgers, and fries.

Depending on how you look at it, this is alternately impressive and highly alarming. Impressiveinsofar as it testifies to the dizzyingly successful business models of fast food chains. And alarmingbecause typical fast food meals are high in calories, salt, fat, and sugar.

And now, according to a recent study, it’s possible that eating fast food also raises your risk fordepression.

The study, done by researchers at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Granada, followed nearly 9,000 participants for six months none of whom had been diagnosed with depression or had taken antidepressants. They found that those who ate the most fast food were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression as those who ate little or none.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that eating fast food causes depression. It could be the other way around that people who become depressed for whatever reason tend to eat more fast food. But while it’s not certain that consuming fast food causes depression, the chance that it might is yet another reason to get off the fast food track and opt for more healthful options.