What you eat can make you feel better but that doesn’t mean you should dive into a bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips for dinner tonight. Instead, eating a healthy diet based on the habits of a Mediterranean culture can prevent depression, according to a new study.

For years, nutritionists have been touting the benefits of fish, nuts, vegetables, fruit, and  plant-based foods to keep your heart healthy. However, it could also make you one-third less likely to experience depression. Conversely, eating sugary and processed foods or ones that are high in saturated fats increase your risk.

The secret is in the quality of food you eat, says lead author Dr. Camille Lassale, from the department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. It has nothing to do with however many pounds you would gain or lose, but is based on having a diet that is less likely to cause inflammation, which affects your moods.

She and her team looked at data from 41 studies, of which four focused on the link between a traditional Mediterranean diet and the mental health of 36,556 adults over a period of eight to 12 years. Those who stuck most closely to a Mediterrean diet fared the best.

Meanwhile, five of the studies examined the impact of ingesting inflammatory foods on mental health in 32,908 adults around the world. Collectively, they showed that eating a diet low in saturated fats, sugar and processed ingredients reduced the risk of depression over the subsequent five to 12 years by 24 percent.

The researchers concluded that diets that limit inflammatory foods lower the risk of depression and that food can be used to treat mental health disorders. Additionally, the effect of diet on gastrointestinal bacteria plays a key role as well, so eating foods that encourage a healthy gut microbiome is also a wise choice.

This moves the treatment for mental health disorders from doctors and therapists alone, but to dieticians and public health agencies, the study’s authors noted. A nutritionally weak diet has long been related to physical health ailments but this study connects the dots between the correlation between diet and mental health as well.

Resources:

https://greekreporter.com/2021/03/01/mediterranean-diet-may-help-prevent-depression-greece/

https://www.nature.com/mp/