Eating fruit and vegetables ‘can prevent depression’

EATING a diet of vegetables, fruit and whole grains may be a simple way to combat depression, a study suggests.

Researchers in the US followed nearly 1,000 people of an average age of 81 for more than six years, monitoring their diet and mood. They found that people who avoided red meat, saturated fats and sugar, and ate healthy vegetables, fruit and whole grains, were 11 per cent less likely to be suffering depression by the end of the study.

“Depression is common in older adults and more frequent in people with memory problems, vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol, or people who have had a stroke,” said study author Dr Laurel Cherian, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Making a lifestyle change such as changing your diet is often preferred over taking medications, so we wanted to see if diet could be an effective way to reduce the risk of depression.”

During the study period, researchers looked at how closely the participants followed eating plans such as the Dash diet, which recommends low-fat foods, or the traditional Western diet, which is higher in fat and sugar. People in the group that followed the Dash diet most closely were less likely to develop depression than people in the group that did not adhere as closely to the diet.

Around one in five people in Britain suffers from depression. The research was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Los Angeles.