Taboola script Diabled on 7th April on request Adpushup head code Diabled on 7th April on request
London: Besides reducing the risk of cancer and heart
attacks, consuming up to eight portions of more fruit and vegetables a day can
also substantially increase levels of people’s happiness in life, finds a new
study.
“Eating fruit and vegetables
apparently boosts our happiness far more quickly than it improves human
health,” said Andrew Oswald, professor at the University of Warwick in
London.
The findings showed that happiness
increased incrementally for each extra daily portion of fruit and vegetables up
to eight portions per day.
People who changed from almost no
fruit and vegetables to eight portions of a day showed an increase in life
satisfaction.
Usually people’s motivation to eat healthy
food is weakened by the fact that these were predictive of alterations in
happiness and satisfaction later in life.
“However, well-being improvements
from increased consumption of fruit and vegetables are closer to
immediate,” Oswald added.
Large positive psychological benefits
were found within two years of an improved diet consisting of more fruit and
vegetables, the researchers said.
“There is a psychological payoff
now from fruit and vegetables -- not just a lower health risk decades
later,” noted Redzo Mujcic, researcher at University of Queensland in
Australia.
The results could be used by health
professionals to persuade people to consume more fruit and vegetables,
particularly in the developed world where the typical citizen eats an unhealthy
diet, said the paper to be published in the American Journal of Public Health.
For the study, the team followed food
diaries of 12,385 randomly selected people. The authors adjusted the effects on
incident changes in happiness and life satisfaction for people’s changing
incomes and personal circumstances.
--IANS