A
new research from New Zealand”s University of Otago has suggested that
eating more fruit and vegetables may make young people calmer, happier
and more energetic in their daily life.
Department of Psychology researchers Dr Tamlin Conner and
Bonnie White, and Dr Caroline Horwath from Otago”s Department of Human
Nutrition, investigated the relationship between day-to-day emotions and
food consumption.
A total of 281 young adults (with a mean age
of 20 years) completed an internet-based daily food diary for 21
consecutive days. Prior to this, participants completed a questionnaire
giving details of their age, gender, ethnicity, weight and height. Those
with a history of an eating disorder were excluded.
On each of
the 21 days participants logged into their diary each evening and rated
how they felt using nine positive and nine negative adjectives. They
were also asked five questions about what they had eaten that day.
Specifically, participants were asked to report the number of servings
eaten of fruit (excluding fruit juice and dried fruit), vegetables
(excluding juices), and several categories of unhealthy foods like
biscuits/cookies, potato crisps, and cakes/muffins.
Comments