Fruit, veg and happiness
Why Champagne? Pop some broccoli
PARENTS have a new argument to use to get children to eat more fruit and vegetables. They make you happy.
New research suggests eating more fruit and vegetables, up to eight a day, can substantially increase people’s later happiness levels. So if one is feeling gloomy and in need of a lift, forget that expensive bottle of wine – just munch on a cheap cabbage.
It has long been known that people who eat healthier tend to be fitter, but a new study suggests that compounds in fruit and vegetables help us have a sunnier outlook on life.
Researchers asked 12 500 Australians to keep food diaries for up to six years and answer questions on their state of mind. Professor Andrew Oswald of Warwick University, one of the study team, said eating eight portions of fruit and veg a day could bring as much happiness as an unemployed person getting a job.
“Our study is consistent with the idea that real food is important for the mind,” he said.
The study is one of the first major scientific attempts to explore psychological well-being beyond the traditional finding that fruit and vegetables can reduce risk of cancer and heart attacks.
After studying the diets of the randomly sampled Australian adults over 2007, 2009, and 2013, researchers concluded increased fruit and vegetable consumption was predictive of increased happiness, life satisfaction, and well-being.
Happiness benefits were detected for each extra daily portion of fruit and vegetables up to eight portions a day.
The researchers concluded that people who changed from almost no fruit and veg to eight portions a day would experience an increase in life satisfaction equivalent to moving from unemployment to employment. The well-being improvements occurred within 24 months. Oswald said: “Eating fruit and vegetables apparently boosts our happiness far more quickly than it improves human health. People’s motivation to eat healthy food is weakened by the fact that physical-health benefits, such as protecting against cancer, accrue decades later. However, well-being improvements from increased consumption of fruit and vegetables are closer to immediate.” The study has policy implications, particularly in the developed world where the typical citizen eats an unhealthy diet. The findings could be used by health professionals to persuade people to consume more fruit and vegetables.
Dr Redzo Mujcic, research fellow at the University of Queensland, said: “Perhaps our results will be more effective than traditional messages in convincing people to have a healthy diet. There is a psychological pay off now from fruit and vegetables – not just a lower health risk decades later.”
The authors took into account many other influences, including changes in income and life circumstances.
One part of the study examined the Australian Go for 2&5 Campaign, which promoted the consumption of two portions of fruit and five portions of vegetables each day.
The academics think it may be possible to link this study to research into antioxidants which suggests a connection between optimism and carotenoid in the blood. – Mail on Sunday