Abstract
Obesity markedly increases the odds of developing depression. Depressed mood not only impairs motivation, quality of life and overall functioning but also increases the risks of obesity complications. Abdominal obesity is a better predictor of depression and anxiety risk than overall adipose mass. A growing amount of research suggests that metabolic abnormalities stemming from central obesity that lead to metabolic disease may also be responsible for the increased incidence of depression in obesity. As reviewed here, a higher mass of dysfunctional adipose tissue is associated with several metabolic disturbances that are either directly or indirectly implicated in the control of emotions and mood. To better comprehend the development of depression in obesity, this review pulls together select findings addressing the link between adiposity, diet and negative emotional states and discusses the evidence that alterations in glucocorticoids, adipose-derived hormones, insulin and inflammatory signaling that are characteristic of central obesity may be involved.
Highlights
Consistent with its broad impact on physiology and health, obesity is increasingly linked to impairments in central nervous system (CNS) function
With an aim to shed light on potential mechanisms, we review the link between depressive symptomology and some adiposerelated metabolic signals, namely glucocorticoids (GCs), leptin, adiponectin, resistin, insulin and inflammatory signals
We found that mice consuming a saturated high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks show depressive-like features characterized by greater immobility in the forced swim task and reduced exploratory behavior in elevated plus maze and open field tests (Sharma and Fulton, 2013)
Summary
Obesity markedly increases the odds of developing depression. Depressed mood impairs motivation, quality of life and overall functioning and increases the risks of obesity complications. Abdominal obesity is a better predictor of depression and anxiety risk than overall adipose mass. A higher mass of dysfunctional adipose tissue is associated with several metabolic disturbances that are either directly or indirectly implicated in the control of emotions and mood. To better comprehend the development of depression in obesity, this review pulls together select findings addressing the link between adiposity, diet and negative emotional states and discusses the evidence that alterations in glucocorticoids, adipose-derived hormones, insulin and inflammatory signaling that are characteristic of central obesity may be involved
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