Broccoli Eaters are Happier

Sharon Moore August 19, 2014

What if happiness is something you get on your plate? In an intriguing finding, researchers in New Zealand have found a link between eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and experiencing the aforementioned pleasures, which collectively fall under the heading of eudaemonic well-being.

The study involved 405 participants, all university students, who kept a daily diary for 13 consecutive days. Each day, they recorded the number of servings they had of fruits, vegetable, desserts and various fried-potato dishes. During the course of the study, they filled out a daily questionnaire intended to measure creativity, curiosity, and psychological flourishing. Specifically, they responded to statements such as "Today, I was engaged and interested in my daily activities” on a one-to-seven scale (“strongly disagree" to "strongly agree"). They also responded to additional items designed to measure their general emotional state that day.

Results showed that people who ate more fruits and vegetables over the 13-day period reported higher average levels of curiosity, creativity, and positive emotions, as well as engagement, meaning and purpose. They also scored higher on all of those scales on days when they ate more fruits and vegetables.

"We cannot conclude that the link between fruit and vegetable consumption and eudaemonic well-being is causal or direct," the researchers caution. It’s possible that feeling in a positive, engaged state of mind led people to eat healthier food.

On the other hand, "the micronutrient content of food could provide an explanation for the current findings," the researchers write.

"Many fruits and vegetables contain higher levels of Vitamin C, an important co-factor in the production of dopamine," they note. "Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that underlies motivation and promotes engagement."

In addition, they point out, antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables have been shown to reduce bodily inflammation, which "is thought to protect against depression."

Whilst it’s too early to establish a fact, this new research suggests that the food we eat does have an impact to what we feel.

Source of this article: Broccoli Eaters Get More Out Of Life