Fruits and Vegetables Put to the Test for Boosting Mood
\Fruits and Vegetables Put to the Test for Boosting Mood There are two components of psychological health the absence of mental health. Disorders such as depression as? Well as the existence of positive psychological well? Being That’s the focus of an emerging field of? Positive psychology focuses on happiness, life, satisfaction, and flourishing, which may translate to physical benefits such as improvements in blood pressure, immune function, and longevity.
What is the contribution of food consumption to well-being? Well? Studies have linked the consumption of fruits and vegetables with enhanced.
Well, A systematic review of research found evidence that consuming fruits and vegetables was associated with increased psychological well being Okay, but that’s just an association.
A famous criticism in this area of research is that maybe there’s just some inherent personality, trait, or type of family upbringing that might lead people simultaneously to eat healthily and also to have better mental.
Well, being So, the diet is merely correlated with but incorrectly gives the appearance of helping to cause the level of well-being.
However recent research circumvented this problem by seeing if changes in diet are correlated with changes in mental well-being in effect, studying the evolution of well-being and happiness after increases in the consumption of fruits and vegetables, And looking at that graph.
A straight line increases between how much more fruits and veggies people started eating and their change in life.
Satisfaction over time.
Increased fruit and vegetable consumption appeared, predictive of increased happiness, life, satisfaction, and well-being up to 0 24 life satisfaction points for an increase of eight portions a day.
What does that mean? Is that a lot Is that a little That’s a lot equal in size to the psychological gain of going from unemployed to getting a job? My Daily Dozen recommendation is for at least nine servings of fruits and veggies a day. This study was done in Australia.
It was repeated in the UK and by researchers.
They found the same thing, though the Brits may need to bump up their daily minimum to more like 10 or 11 servings a day.
Okay, but does eating fruits and veggies also reduce the risk of depression and anxiety?
I mean being is nice, but governments and medical authorities are often interested in the determinants of major mental illness, not life, satisfaction And indeed using the same data set.
But instead of looking for mental illness, eating fruits and vegetables may help to protect against future risks of clinical depression and anxiety as well.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of dozens of studies found that every 100-gram increased intake of fruit was associated with a 3 reduced risk of depression That’s about half an apple.
Yet less than 10 of most Western populations even consume a bare minimum.
Maybe the problem is we’re just telling people about the long-term benefits of fruit intake for chronic disease prevention rather than the near-immediate improvements in well being So maybe we should be advertising the happiness gains, but first we need to make sure they’re real, We’ve been talking about associations.
Yes, a healthy diet may reduce the risk of future depression or anxiety, but being diagnosed with depression or anxiety. Today could also lead to lower fruit and vegetable intake.
Now, in these studies, you can indeed show that the increase in fruit and vegetable consumption came first and not the other way around, but, as the great Enlightenment philosopher pointed out, just because the cock crows before the dawn, doesn’t mean the cock caused.
The sun to rise To prove cause and effect you need to put it to the test with an interventional study.
Unfortunately, to date, many studies were like this, where those randomized to eat fruit showed significant improvements in anxiety and depression, fatigue, and emotional distress, Wow amazing, But that was compared to chocolate and potato chips.
Apples, clementines, and bananas, making people feel better than assorted, potato chips and chunky chocolate wafers are not exactly a revelation.
This is the kind of study I’ve been waiting for a randomized controlled trial in which young adults were randomized to a diet, as usual group encouragement to eat more fruits and veggies, or a third group given two servings of fruits and vegetables a day to Eat over and above their regular diet And the ones given fruits and veggies showed improvements in their psychological well being with increases in vitality, flourishing and motivation within just two weeks.
However, simply educating people to eat their fruits and vegetables may not be enough to reap the full rewards, so perhaps greater emphasis needs to be placed on actually providing people with fresh produce, for example, offering free fruit for people when they shop.
I know that would certainly make me happy.
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My 6-step formula for GCSE exam success. Achieve a top grade in all your GCSE exams whilst spending half of your time doing the things you enjoy. I explain why note-taking is NOT the way ➯➱ ➫ ➪➬ The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private schools in Scotland may choose to use GCSEs from England.
