Question 2. ScrenceDaIIy our source Of e aes researc news Eating poorly can make you blue: Trans-fats increase risk of depression, while olive oil helps avoid risk Researchers from the universities of Navarra and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have demonstrated that the ingestion of trans-fats and saturated fats foods increases the risk of suffering depression. Olive oil, on the other hand, protects against this mental illness. They have confirmed this after studying 12,059 volunteers overthe course ofsix years; the volunteers had their diet and ailments analyzed at the beginning of the project, over its course and at the end of the project. The researchers found that despite the fact that none of the volunteers suffered from depression at the beginning of the study, by the end, 657 cases had been detected. Of these cases, participants with an elevated consumption of trans-fats (fats present in commercially-Broduced pastries such as croissants and doughnuts and fast food like hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza, and naturally present in certain whole milk products) "presented a 48% increase in the risk of depression when compared to participants who did not consume these fats." In addition, the study demonstrated a dose-response relationship, "whereby the more trans-fats consumed, the greater the harmful effect they produced in the volunteers," affirmed Almudena Sa'nchez-Villegas, Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of g Palmas de Gran Canaria. Furthermore, the team, directed by Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez, Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Navarra, also analyzed the influence of polyunsaturated fats (abundant in fish and vegetable oils) and of olive oil on the occurrence of depression. "In fact, we discovered that this type of healthier fats, together with olive oil, are associated with a lower risk of suffering depression." 150 million persons depressed worldwide Thus, the results of the study corroborate the hypothesis of a greater incidence of the disease in countries of northern Europe compared to countries of the south, where a Mediterranean dietary pattern prevails. Today some 150 million persons are affected worldwide, where it is the principal cause of loss of years of life in those countries with medium-to-high per capita income. Finally, the analysis, headed by the University of Navarre and the University of Q Palmas de Gran Canaria, shows that both depression and cardiovascular disease are influenced in a similar manner by diet, and might share similar mechanisms in their origin. Numerous studies have demonstrated the harmful effect of trans-fats and saturated fats on both the risk of cardiovascular disease and depression