diet and depression

Prowl the perimeter of the grocery store. The foods that comprise a simple, healthy diet are located around the perimeter of most markets.

Put on a happy plate: Fruits, vegetbles and whole foods may lower your risk of depression.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—If, we are what we eat, Americans are doubly in trouble, according to a study of the link between diet and depression. Not only does our diet—rife as it is with fried, processed, and sugary foods—dangerously erode our physical health, an Australian study just published in the American Journal of Psychiatry has found that it seriously depresses our mental health, as well.

THE DETAILS: To explore how diet and depression are connected, Australian researchers analyzed the diets of 1,046 women participants, ages 20 to 93, from the Geelong Osteoporosis study, which recruited subjects between 1994 and 1997. As part of the Geelong study, the women had filled out food-frequency questionnaires as well as a 12-item general health questionnaire, and received follow-up health assessments every two years. The researchers looked anew at the food-frequency data to identify habitual dietary patterns and give each participant a "diet quality score." They used the general health questionnaires to ID any depressive symptoms and followed up with a clinical evaluation.

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What they found, after adjusting for age, socioeconomic status, education, and health behaviors (variables that can either prime you for or protect you from mental-health problems), was that a diet largely made up of fruit, veggies, meat, fish, and whole grains was linked with lower odds of not just major chronic diseases such as heart disease, but also of major depression and anxiety. Whereas a diet filled with fried, processed, or sugary foods, refined grains, and alcohol was associated with double the odds of major depression and anxiety.

Read on for advice on eating an upbeat diet.