Obesity can cause depression

CANBERRA, Nov 13 (Xinhua): Australian researchers have found the strongest evidence so far that obesity is linked to depression.

A new study published on Tuesday by the University of South Australia (UniSA) and University of Exeter in the United Kingdom (UK) revealed that the mental impact of being obese can cause depression.

Researchers from the institution analysed the records of 48,000 UK patients with depression and compared them to the records of a control group of 290,000 people.

Elina Hypponen, the study's lead author in UniSA, said that her team took a genomic approach to the study. "We separated the psychological component of obesity from the impact of obesity-related health problems using genes associated with higher body mass index (BMI), but with lower risk of diseases like diabetes," Elina said in a statement on Tuesday.

"These genes were just as strongly associated with depression as those genes associated with higher BMI and diabetes.