To address a crucial knowledge deficiency concerning the correlation between fried food consumption and the risk of anxiety and depression, here we revealed that frequent fried food consumption is strongly associated with a higher risk of anxiety and depression. Notably, acrylamide is a representative contaminant in fried foods, thereby further elucidating its toxicological mode of action. We demonstrated that long-term exposure to acrylamide induces anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors via oxidative stress-mediated neuroinflammation, and unravel the underlying mechanism that PPAR signaling pathway mediates acrylamide-induced lipid metabolism disorder in brain.

These outcomes are expected to both epidemiologically and mechanistically open an avenue in the significance of reducing fried food consumption for mental health and provide evidence to understand acrylamide-triggered anxiety and depression..

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2221097120