Eating more vegetables, fruits may improve mental health in 2 weeks

Increasing one’s consumption of vegetables and fruits may improve mental health in just two weeks, according to a recent study.

The study, led by Dr. Tamlin Conner of the Psychology Department in New Zealand’s University of Otago, revealed that young adults who ate additional fruits and vegetables every day for two weeks experienced an increase in motivation and vitality. It also encouraged them to increase their intake of such foods.

For their research, the team gathered 171 participants, all of whom were students between 18 and 25 years old. The participants were then split up into three groups over the course of 14 days.

The first group was made to resume their normal dietary habits. The second group personally received two extra servings of fresh vegetables and fruits such as carrots, oranges, apples, and kiwi fruit every day. The last group received vouchers for prepaid produce, and text messages reminding them to eat more vegetables and fruits.

At the study’s start and conclusion, the participants underwent psychological tests that evaluated motivation, mood, vitality, symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as other factors that can determine psychological well-being.

The resulting data showed that the second group—whose members were personally handed additional fruits and vegetables—ingested these foods the most in 14 days, at 3.7 servings each day. Most interestingly, they exhibited boosts in mental health, with particular improvements in motivation, vitality, and flourishing.

As for the first and last groups, no improvements in mental health were observed.

There was no evidence, however, of improvements in anxiety and depression symptoms.

“The majority of research linking depression to dietary patterns has been longitudinal, meaning that possible differences in ill-being may be established over a much longer period of time rather than our brief 2-week period,” claim the study authors.

Nevertheless, the researchers believe their findings demonstrate that psychological well-being may rapidly benefit from an increase in intake of vegetables and fruits via personal delivery.

“Providing young adults with high-quality FV (fruits and vegetables), not texting them reminders to eat more FV and giving them a voucher, resulted in improvements to their psychological well-being over a 2-week period,” say the researchers. “This is the first study to show that providing high-quality FV to young adults can result in short-term improvements in vitality, flourishing, and motivation. Findings provide initial validation of a causal relationship between FV and well-being, suggesting that large-scale intervention studies are warranted.”

The study was published in the PLOS One journal. — BM, GMA News