Fruit and vegetable consumption could be as good
for your mental as your physical health, new research suggests.
The research, conducted by the University of
Warwick’s Medical School using data from the Health Survey for England, and
published by BMJ Open focused on mental wellbeing and found that high
and low mental wellbeing were consistently associated with an individual’s
fruit and vegetable consumption.
33.5% of respondents with high mental wellbeing
ate five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day, compared with only
6.8% who ate less than one portion. Commenting on the findings Dr Saverio
Stranges, the research paper’s lead author, said: “The data suggest that higher
an individual’s fruit and vegetable intake the lower the chance of their having
low mental wellbeing”.
31.4% of those with high mental wellbeing ate
three-four portions and 28.4% ate one-two.
Other health-related behaviours were found to be
associated with mental wellbeing, but along with smoking only fruit and
vegetable consumption was consistently associated in both men and women.
Alcohol intake and obesity were not associated with high mental wellbeing.
Commenting on the findings Dr Saverio Stranges,
the research paper’s lead author, said: “Along with smoking, fruit and
vegetable consumption was the health-related behaviour most consistently
associated with both low and high mental wellbeing. 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 is strongly linked to mental
illness and mental health problems, but high mental wellbeing is more than the
absence of symptoms or illness; it is a state in which people feel good and
function well. Optimism, happiness, self-esteem, resilience and good
relationships with others are all part of this state. Mental wellbeing is
important not just to protect people from mental illness but because it
protects people against common and serious physical diseases.
Discussing the implications of the research,
co-author Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown says that: “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. It
has become very important that we begin to research the factors that enable
people to maintain a sense of wellbeing.
“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”.
Mental wellbeing was assessed using the
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), in which the top 15% of
participants categorised as having High mental wellbeing, the bottom 15% Low
and the middle 16-84% as Middle.
The research involved 14,000 participants in
England aged 16 or over, with 56% of those being female and 44% male, as part
of the Health Survey for England – which saw detailed information collected on
mental and physical health, health related behaviours, demographics and
socio-economic characteristics.
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