A new study reveals that a higher daily intake of fruits and vegetables results in a greater sense of happiness and mental well-being.
Feeling blue? Perhaps
you need more reds, greens, and yellows in your diet. According to a new study from the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College,
upping your fruit and veggie intake to seven servings daily from the typically
recommended five servings promotes happiness and improved mental health.
Researchers studied
the dietary habits of 80,000 people in Britain and surveyed participants on
life satisfaction, mental well-being, history or presence of mental disorders,
nervousness, feelings of depression, and personal self-reported health and happiness.
As subjects' daily
intake of fruits and vegetables increased, so did their sense of happiness and well-being. The dose-dependent pattern peaked at
seven servings per day; eating more yielded no additional mood enhancement.
Though experts
recommend five servings of fruits and vegetables per day for optimal health,
the authors of the study report that 25 percent of British people consume one
or no servings each day, and only a tenth of the entire British population
meets the seven or more a day goal.
And according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 14
percent of adult Americans eat enough fruits and vegetables, with 33 percent
getting the recommended two or more daily servings of fruit, and 27 percent
meeting the recommended three or more daily servings of vegetables.
“The statistical power of fruit and vegetables was a surprise. Diet has
traditionally been ignored by well-being researchers,” says Sarah
Stewart-Brown, MD,professor of public health at Warwick Medical School and study
co-author. However, she stresses that there is still more to learn regarding
the link between serving size and its effect on mood and well-being.