The term “we are what we eat” becomes true when you look at how much, sugar and a bad diet can affect your mental health. Our brains require fuel from what we eat if we rely on sugar and junk food we are fueling our brains with things that can affect our brains in a negative way. Our moods can change for the worse and the functioning of our brains can lower.

According to Super Kids nutrition, teenage males consume 442 calories a day from added sugar (added sugar is sugar added to things like fruit juices. Not natural sugar in things like apples) products while females consume 314 calories a day. Products that have added sugar can suppress a protein in the brain called brain deprived neurotic factor (BDNF). This protein helps with the neurons in the brain, it builds and helps to maintain the brain circuits so signals can travel correctly through the brain. If someone was to not have this protein in their brain, it can lead to mental illnesses like depression. There has been research that people with depression have lower levels of BDNF than someone who doesn’t have depression.

70% of mental health problems become prominent during adolescence according to Neurotrition. There was a study done on rats where people put teenage rats on a caloric junk food diet, and when they entered their adult years the rats were more anxious. Eating so much junk food can hurt a teenager’s learning abilities. There was a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2011 where usually healthy students ate junk food for five days then took a cognitive test. The cognitive test was on things like speed, mood, and attention. All the students did poorly on the test. This shows that Junk food can really ruin areas of the brain like the hippocampus which deals with memory. Another example would be the study done on rats who drank sugar-filled beverages because of this they couldn’t remember where a specific location was. People did the same experiment on adolescent rats, who showed inflammation in the hippocampus, according to the conversation. Relating this to humans, people who have a healthy diet ended up with a bigger hippocampus in their older adult years.

Usually, a bad diet (junk food) lacks the correct nutrients that teenagers need.  An example would be iron. Your body needs iron to continue to help carry healthy oxygen-filled blood cells to your lungs and other parts of your body. Not having enough iron can cause irritable moods and a condition called anemia. Having this condition causes symptoms like fatigue, fast heartbeat, and dizziness, etc… Food that give a person enough iron so they won’t have to deal with the condition would be things like Spanish, broccoli, and or eggs.

The consumption of junk food can lead to a risk of dementia. There was a study down at Brown University that too much junk food increases the level of insulin in the body. If your body gets so used to insulin, then the brain can stop responding to it which can lead to people having a harder time recalling memories, and or make new memories.

A healthy diet for teenagers isn’t that much different from a healthy adult diet, a person would want to eat lots of lean meats or some kind of source of protein, veggies, and fruits.  According to U.S. News, a study done in 2013 found that people who had a 25 to 35 percent lower chance of getting depression also ate a diet high in vegetables, fruits, grains, and fish.

“I eat avocados, a lot of fruits, vegetable soup, stuff like that. I feel,” junior Destiny Andrews said.

Studies show that things like omega-3s, leafy greens, eggs, nuts, and exercise can help a lot in a battle with depression and other mental illnesses someone is dealing with. Doing research on what you should eat could stop the consequences of eating so junk food and staying on a bad diet.