A Mediterranean diet and, in the end, any other diet containing fruits, vegetables, nuts, unprocessed meat is associated with the prevention of depression, according to a study revealed by BMC Medicine.
Researchers analyzed over 15,000 people before deciding that depression can be connected to a nutrients deficit.
It is for the first time scientists studied a possible link between healthy food and depression risk, although this is a subject that has been on their minds for quite some time now – if certain nutrients can be good for physical health, couldn’t they help the mind, as well?
The 15,000 participants in this study were perfectly healthy and not at all depressed. At the end of the study, 10 years later, almost 1,500 of them were diagnosed with depression. And the explanation given by those who observed them for all these years, was down to the diet they had. Doctors believe that a major protective role was played by foods rich in certain nutrients – various nuts, vegetables, fruits, many sources of Omega-3 acids, vitamins, minerals.
This study will constitute a starting point for another improved one, because in the first study everything was based on the participants’ declarations – nobody monitored what they ate, nobody checked if the number of depressive people was higher 10 years later.
Thus a major research study is about to take place to identify if certain vitamins or minerals or maybe proteins or carbohydrates are triggers for depression.
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