An English study has revealed that some foods could have a major impact on mental health in older adults
What you eat can have a big impact on your happiness, scientists say – and what you need might be right there in your kitchen. UK researchers have discovered that middle-aged and older adults who eat more fish, vegetables and fruit – as well as healthy fats – have higher levels of happiness, life satisfaction and overall well-being.
However, the scientists acknowledged some inconsistencies in the evidence. That means more research is needed to directly tie these foods to increased happiness.
Published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, the findings could still help provide guidance on how diet can improve well-being. Socio-economics, demographics and other health aspects also factor into well-being which complicates the research.
Most previous research focused on how diet changes can reduce negative feelings like depression but how it influences positive feelings hasn’t been investigated as much. This is what researchers were looking into, analysing how food affected three types of well-being:
- Eudenomic – having meaning, purpose and personal growth
- Hedonic – having happiness and positive emotions
- Evaluative – having life satisfaction
The study looked at data from the 2018-2019 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing which involved adults aged 50 and older. This specific study analysed 3,103 participants after making some exclusions.
It measured their dietary intake of fruits, vegetables, polyunsaturated fats and fish on two random days. The results were adjusted to avoid being swayed by other factors like age, gender, ethnicity, wealth, education, living situation, social isolation, long-standing illnesses and depressive symptoms.
Foods ‘linked to well-being’
On average, participants had two portions of fruit and vegetables per day and got around 2.5% of their daily energy from polyunsaturated fats. This is less than the recommended five portions or more of fruit and vegetables per day and 6.5% of polyunsaturated fats according to News Medical.
Over half of the participants reported not having fish on the two random days. Fish consumption was found to have a significant impact on happiness even after adjusting for depressive symptoms.
Fruits and vegetables on the other hand had a strong link to eudemonic well-being, but this become “non-significant” when depressive symptoms were taken into account. Polyunsaturated fats – contained in foods like oily fish, nuts and seeds – showed weaker and less consistent links to improving happiness.
The scientists concluded, acknowledging some variations in the results: “First, different types of food are differentially associated with well-being. For instance, fruit and vegetables (are) associated with all domains but strongest with eudemonic well-being.
“Fish is associated with happiness independently of depressive symptoms; polyunsaturated fats are associated with eudemonic well-being and happiness to a certain extent, but not life satisfaction.
“This suggests the possibility that different foods offer different nutritional benefits that may impact psychological health differently. It also suggests the need for further research to investigate what makes specific foods beneficial for psychological well-being, as the results do not support the likelihood that all healthy diets have the same influence.
“Furthermore, fruit and vegetables appear to have the strongest link to positive well-being compared with other types of dietary intake.”
Researchers highlighted that this investigation is still “at an early stage”, it still suggests that diet has an influence on well-being and encouraging changes here, such as increasing fruit, vegetable and fish intake, could improve well-being. But they still highlighted the need for further research to confirm this and reach a stronger conclusion.