High insulin levels during childhood a risk for mental health problems in adulthood, study suggests

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/uoc-hil011221.php

 

News Release 13-Jan-2021
University of Cambridge

 

Researchers have shown that the link between physical and mental illness is closer than previously thought. Certain changes in physical health, which are detectable in childhood, are linked with the development of mental illness in adulthood.

The researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, used a sample of over 10,000 people to study how insulin levels and body mass index (BMI) in childhood may be linked with depression and psychosis in young adulthood.

They found that persistently high insulin levels from mid-childhood were linked with a higher chance of developing psychosis in adulthood. In addition, they found that an increase in BMI around the onset of puberty, was linked with a higher chance of developing depression in adulthood, particularly in girls. The results were consistent after adjusting for a range of other possible factors.


•••••