Can These Dietary Switches Lower Depression?
People who drink a glass of 100% fruit juice or a smoothie each day as part of the UK’s 5-a-day healthy eating guidance see improvements in their mental wellbeing, according to new research from Newcastle University, UK.
In a new randomised controlled trial, adults with low intakes of fruit and vegetables were given support to increase their daily fruit and vegetable intake, with or without a glass of fruit juice or a smoothie, in order to meet the 5-a-day guideline.
After four weeks, both groups successfully boosted their fruit and vegetable intake but the group of people who added in fruit juice reported a reduction in depression scores. The results, peer-reviewed and published in the British Journal of Nutrition and funded by the Fruit Juice Science Centre, add to growing evidence that simple, practical dietary changes can support mental health.
Excerpted from Neuroscience News
