Eat an Apple (or 7); Be Happy

Happiness and mental health increase the more fruits and vegetables you eat, peaking at seven servings a day, finds a new study that focused on how a healthy diet links to mental health.

Study researchers pulled data of approximately 80,000 randomly selected individuals from three British studies. The surveys included information on diet and seven measures of wellbeing, including life satisfaction, happiness, nervousness and feeling low.

Mental wellbeing appeared to rise with the number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables people consumed. Wellbeing peaked at seven portions a day. The authors worked to adjust for numerous factors that could affect the link, such as weight, marital status, income, illness and physical activity.

As the study points out, the link is cross-sectional and does not show cause-and-effect.

Source: David G. Blanchflower et al. “Is Psychological Well-being Linked to the Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables?” Social Indicators Research. October 2012.