Does a vegan diet help with depression?

My answer is yes.  The type of depression that I suffer from is linked to hormonal changes in my body (the actual diagnosis is Major Depressive Disorder, severe).  I am fortunate that I don't suffer from depression all of the time, only about 1 week every 4-5 weeks.  I currently take 3 different medications to manage my depression and they are working very well for me (yes, for some people antidepressants are a lifesaver!).

But taking the medications is not enough for me, I also have to be careful with my diet.  I started being vegan about 2 years ago as a desperate measure to help with my illness.  If you have suffered from mental illness, you know that you will try anything to make it better!  I noticed differences right away.  I also noticed that consuming refined carbohydrates and sugar make my depression/anxiety a lot worse.  That was sad news for me because I loved desserts and baking!

At first I didn't understand why my diet helped.  Then I read a book by John McDougall which explained a lot of the scientific reasons why a vegan diet helps with hormone-dependent depression (or even just regular PMS).  Here is a somewhat simple explanation taken from www.drmcdougall.com/med_hormone.html.  

First, the blood levels of our reproductive hormones (estrogen, progesterone, prolactin) are determined by what we eat.  A high fat diet will increase the levels of these hormones.  A vegan diet is very low-fat.  

Second, our body has a hard time getting rid of excess hormones when we eat too much fat, especially meat fats.  The liver produces a non-absorbable substance to attach to the estrogen so it isn't reabsorbed in the intestines.  But, a high fat diet causes enzymes to grow in the intestines that uncouple the estrogen from the non-absorbable substance, which causes the "free" estrogen to recirculate back through the blood.  Higher levels of free estrogen have been linked to breast cancer.  Fiber from vegetable foods helps to block the absorption of any free estrogen.

This explains why my depression is better when I eat a low-fat diet that is plants-based.  My hormone levels are lower, which causes my depression to be less severe.  Lower estrogen levels and the amount of time we are exposed to these levels impact our risk of breast cancer.  This is the reason why some people in Asian countries who eat a plants-based diet have a very low incidence of breast cancer.  Their diets aren't dependent on animal protein which is high in fat (even poultry and low-fat dairy products still raise the risk of cancer.  But more on that later).

Will a vegan diet help with depression that is not linked to hormone levels?  Again, I am not a doctor, but I think it would.  It's definitely worth trying, I started out thinking I would eat this way for 30 days and now it has been over 700.  For more information read "The China Study" by TC Campbell.