Feeling depressed? There’s now an easy way to uplift your mood, and it may be as simple as visiting your local produce aisle.
According to a new study conducted by the the University of Warwick Medical School, people who ate five or more servings of fruits and vegetables everyday were more likely to be mentally and physically healthy–something which researchers attribute to maintaining a healthy diet. Those who ate only a few servings were more likely to have mental problems, however.
The research is featured in this month’s issue of BMJ Open.
“Along with smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption was the health-related behaviour [sic] most consistently associated with both low and high mental wellbeing,” says Saverio Stranges, lead author of the study. “These novel findings suggest that fruit and vegetable intake may play a potential role as a driver, not just of physical, but also of mental wellbeing in the general population.”
Low mental wellbeing, in this instance, refers to changes in a person’s mental capacity that may make them more susceptible to mental illness, though it does not always indicate the presence of one. Those who have low mental wellbeing, for instance, are more likely to have depression or feel stressed out, whereas those who report higher levels of mental wellbeing feel more optimistic, happy, and generally have better self-esteem.
As it turns out, eating your fruits and vegetables could be an easy pick-me-up for reducing poor mental wellbeing, according to Stranges’s research. In his study, he polled nearly 14,000 people who had previously participated in the Health Survey for England, which had collected data about their mental and physical health. He then inquired about their intake of fruits and vegetables, and found a striking coincidence–those who ate five or more servigns of fruits and vegetables everyday were the least likely to have mental problems. Those who ate only a few servings, or worse yet, none at all, were the most likely to have poor mental wellbeing, however.
The findings aren’t surprising to co-author Sarah Stewart-Brown.
“Mental illness is hugely costly to both the individual and society, and mental wellbeing underpins many physical diseases, unhealthy lifestyles and social inequalities in health,” says Stewart-Brown. “Our findings add to the mounting evidence that fruit and vegetable intake could be one such factor and mean that people are likely to be able to enhance their mental wellbeing at the same time as preventing heart disease and cancer.”
Their advice? While the evidence doesn’t prove that fruits and vegetables can prevent mental problems, it can influence your body into developing better mental health–and that’s something everyone could use.
“It has become very important that we begin to research the factors that enable people to maintain a sense of wellbeing,” says Stewart-Brown.
What You Should Do
If you find yourself prone to stress, depression, or even anxiety, don’t change how you think–change your diet instead. Adding at least five servings of fruits and vegetables to your diet everyday could drastically affect your personal self-esteem.
Readers: How often do you eat fruits or vegetables?
Source:
Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Could Be as Good For Your Mental and Physical Health – ScienceDaily.com
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