Older adults with symptoms of depression are more likely to gain fat in the abdominal area, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
Nicole Vogelzangs of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and her colleagues studied 2,088 adults aged 70-79. The study participants were screened for depression and their abdominal fat was recorded at the beginning of the study. At the end of five years, the measurements were taken again.
At the end of five years, the study authors found that the presence of depression symptoms at the beginning of the study was associated with an increase in sagittal diameter (the distance between the back and the highest point of the abdomen) and increased visceral fat (fat between the organs) over the course of the study. No link existed between depression symptoms and overall obesity, however.
According to the authors, these results suggest that depression symptoms are specifically linked with fat gain in the abdominal region.
The authors note that there are several mechanisms which might account for the abdominal fat-depression link, such as increased cortisol production due to chronic stress.
These results could also explain why depression is often followed by diabetes or heart disease, say the authors, but further researched is needed to sort out just what the mechanisms are.
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