Earlier this month, Japanese researchers published a study in the British Journal of Nutrition showing a connection between diet quality and depression in women.
The researchers analyzed the diet quality and depressive symptoms of roughly 7,800 Japanese women, about half of whom were 18 and the other half were 47–49.
What they found was that those who had a higher quality diet also had lower depression scores. What constituted a higher quality diet? Well, researchers considered a higher quality diet to include the following foods:
- Grain dishes
- Vegetable dishes
- Fish and meat dishes
- Milk
- Fruits
Likewise, they considered a low quality diet to include the following foods as primary energy sources:
- Snacks
- Confection
- Beverages (presumably soft drinks and other sweetened beverages)
This is one more study in a growing body of research showing a positive connection between what we eat and our mental health.