Is Ice Cream the great antidepressant that we all have been waiting for. My father and Grandfather manufactured milk and ice cream for years, I bet they would be surprised to learn that they were in the medical profession.

New research published in the journal Nature Neuroscience this month doesn’t go so far as to say that ice cream is an antidepressant but it does say that a brain chemical called ghrelin that encourages the eating of ice cream could be.

There has long been a relationship between depression and comfort food, although a lot of the relationship is caused by the drugs the doctors prescribe. The tricyclic antidepressants especially have along history of patient weight gain and even some of the newer ones like Remeron have the same problem.

A lot of the research on this brain chemical called ghrelin, which has been shown to cause experimental rats to eat more and consequentially gain more weight. So they came up with an experimental drug to give the rats that combats the ghrelin and eliminates the hunger pangs and the weight gain.

I guess that all this research will lead somewhere but like usual they are trying to cure a symptom instead of trying to cure the depression.

Anyway the jury is still out on this cure but lets weight and see if ice cream is the great antidepressant.

Sources:
ABC News October 20, 2008

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