Increasing fruit and veg intake may improve mental health outcomes 🥗🧠
Get those colours on your plate.
Including fruit juice and smoothies within 5-a-day fruit and vegetable intake recommendations: a randomised controlled trial investigating impact on levels of intake, mood and markers of health
Study Details
This new study recruited 42 healthy individuals with low fruit and veg intake (≤2 servings/day) 🔍
Participants were assigned to one of three 4-week interventions…
1️⃣ Control
2️⃣ Whole fruit and veg (FV)
3️⃣ Whole FV plus fruit juice/smoothies (FV+FJ)
All groups received financial support (to remove financial barriers) 💰
Fruit and veg interventions also received educational material 🎓
Key Findings
🥤 Fruit and veg intake was significantly higher in FV (8.9 portions/day) and FV+FJ (6.6 portions/day) vs control (2.45 portions/day)
🧠 Depression symptoms were also significantly lower in FV+FJ than control
❌ There were no differences in anxiety or gut symptoms, nor in intake or metabolic biomarkers
Conclusion
Both whole fruit and veg intake and smoothies are a great way to increase overall fruit and veg intake ✅
Plus there may be additional benefits for specific aspects of mental health 🤔
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42169606/
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