• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Fruit, Vegetables, And Depression: Insights From A Study of 3,483 Twins

December 2, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

A study of thousands of twins has suggested what your grandmother preached all along: eating more fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms. 

Scientists led by a team at UNSW Sydney looked at 3,483 twins (all aged over 45) from Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and the US to see how their fruit and vegetable intake compared with the extent of their depressive symptoms. 

Advertisement

Within the pairs of twins, the individuals who had higher intakes of both fruit and vegetables tended to report fewer symptoms of depression, leading the paper to conclude that “higher fruit and vegetable intakes may protect against depressive symptoms.”

“The findings present another argument for increasing fruit and vegetable intake in adults over 45 years of age,” Dr Annabel Matison, lead study author and postdoctoral fellow at UNSW Sydney, said in a statement.

Bear in mind that the relationship is a correlation, not causal. In other words, the study found a link between fruit and vegetable consumption and certain aspects of depression, but it did not determine whether the dietary differences were directly responsible for the outcomes.

For instance, the twin who ate more vegetables might also exercise more, drink less alcohol, and maintain a healthier lifestyle overall, all of which can promote improved well-being.

Advertisement

With the caveat in mind, twin studies are fairly effective at reducing other factors that can skew the results, like genetics and upbringing.  

“Twin pairs share 50-100 percent of their genetic background and when raised together share the same family environment. One of the advantages of the twin design is that it can help address the issue of unwanted factors, such as socioeconomic status early in life, influencing the results,” added Dr Karen Mather, co-author on the research and Leader of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing’s Genomics and Epigenomics Group.

It’s also hardly controversial to say that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is good for your health, including your mental health.

Advertisement

With their abundance in dietary fiber, vitamins, and micronutrients, it’s apparent that fruit and vegetables are likely to help the gut microbiome and protect against oxidative damage to the brain, which could potentially improve mental well-being.

“The importance of the gut microbiome and its potential influence on depression as a result of inflammation, both systemic and neuroinflammation, is becoming increasingly well understood,” explained Dr Matison.

Not all vegetables are created equal, though. The study found that higher potato intake does not have a beneficial association with depressive symptoms. This might be because potatoes are often eaten in their delicious (albeit not highly nutritious) deep-fried form, although the researchers note that “further research is required to understand the relationship between potato intake and depression.”

Another interesting, albeit hardly surprising, insight for the study was people in Europe, Australia, and North America aren’t eating enough fruit and vegetables. This is especially true in Scandinavia, where studies have shown the average person eats less than half the World Health Organization’s recommended of at least five servings per day.

Advertisement

Could we see a reduction in depression if servings were increased to the recommended levels? The study’s findings seem to point in that direction, although Matison said it was still “unclear.” 

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Helsinki’s Maki.vc poised to close fund at €100M, key focus will be sustainability, deeptech
  2. Germany’s SPD to open coalition talks with “kingmaker” parties
  3. How Mysterious Space Waves Cross The Turbulent “Shock” To Affect Earth
  4. The World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm Is Looking To Grow Even Further

Source Link: Fruit, Vegetables, And Depression: Insights From A Study of 3,483 Twins

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The Oldest Stalagmite Ever Dated Was Found In Oklahoma Rocks, Dating Back 289 Million Years
  • 2024’s Great American Eclipse Made Some Birds Behave In Surprising Ways, But Not All Were Fooled
  • “Carter Catastrophe”: The Math Equation That Predicts The End Of Humanity
  • Why Is There No Nobel Prize For Mathematics?
  • These Are The Only Animals Known To Incubate Eggs In Their Stomachs And Give “Birth” Out Their Mouths
  • Constipated? This One Fruit Could Help, Says First-Ever Evidence-Led Diet Guidance
  • NGC 2775: This Galaxy Breaks The Rules Of “Galactic Evolution” And Baffles Astronomers
  • Meet The “Four-Eyed” Hirola, The World’s Most Endangered Antelope With Fewer Than 500 Left
  • The Bizarre 1997 Experiment That Made A Frog Levitate
  • There’s A Very Good Reason Why October 1582 On Your Phone Is Missing 10 Days
  • Skynet-1A: Military Spacecraft Launched 56 Years Ago Has Been Moved By Persons Unknown
  • There’s A Simple Solution To Helping Avoid Erectile Dysfunction (But You’re Not Going To Like It)
  • Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS May Be 10 Billion Years Old, This Rare Spider Is Half-Female, Half-Male Split Down The Middle, And Much More This Week
  • Why Do Trains Not Have Seatbelts? It’s Probably Not What You Think
  • World’s Driest Hot Desert Just Burst Into A Rare And Fleeting Desert Bloom
  • Theoretical Dark Matter Infernos Could Melt The Earth’s Core, Turning It Liquid
  • North America’s Largest Mammal Once Numbered 60 Million – Then Humans Nearly Drove It To Extinction
  • North America’s Largest Ever Land Animal Was A 21-Meter-Long Titan
  • A Two-Headed Fossil, 50/50 Spider, And World-First Butt Drag
  • Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is Losing Buckets Of Water Every Second – And It’s Got Cyanide
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version