Putting an End to Depression-Triggered Carb Cravings

You're depressed. But instead of losing your appetite and not being able to sleep -- typical signs of depression -- you have an irresistible urge to eat sweets or other carbohydrates and to sleep a lot. These symptoms of "atypical depression" are, despite its name, quite common, and their consequences can be serious, including weight gain and related health problems. Now, there may be relief for those who suffer from atypical depression: chromium picolinate.

Atypically depressed patients with high-carb cravings seem to respond very positively to chromium, according to research in the September 2005 issue of Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

"[Participants] had a reduction in their appetites and a reduction in their carbohydrate cravings," says John Docherty, M.D., the study's principal investigator. "They also had an overall reduction in their depressive state."

Consuming sweets continually causes diabetes >