correct diet for treating depression
Deficiency of essential nutrients has been shown to play a major role in mental health and can lead to depression .
Researchers have shown that those who follow a Mediterranean diet that includes nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables are less likely to experience depression than those who follow a diet high in sugar and meat.
A ten-year study was conducted on 15,093 people to determine whether a person’s diet had an effect on their mental health and overall happiness.
Dr Almudena Sanchez Villegas, who led the study, says
We wanted to understand the role nutrition plays in mental health, because we believe that certain eating habits can protect our psyche. All of these eating habits have benefits for the body and now we’ve found that they can also have positive effects on mental health. Their protective role is due to their nutritional properties, such as nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables, which can reduce the risk of depression.
After changing the diet of the participants in this study, it wasn’t long before they noticed changes in their happiness status. Relatively small changes in the diet were sufficient to reduce the risk of developing depression.
Dr. Sanchez explains that the depression-reduction threshold may be met.
A big difference occurred when the participants began following a healthy diet . Even moderate adherence to healthy eating patterns has significantly reduced the risk of developing depression. However, no additional positive benefits were observed when participants followed these patterns more strictly.
So when we reach the threshold of these benefits, the reduction in the risk of depression reaches a steady state. Even if the participants became more strict with the diet and ate healthy foods, the results were still the same.
The dose-response pattern here is consistent with the hypothesis that consumption of some nutrients that are less than required may indicate a future risk factor for depression.