Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with improved mental and cognitive health in older adults from non-Western developing countries

Gehlich, Kerstin H; Beller, Johannes; Lange‐Asschenfeldt, Bernhard; Köcher, Wolfgang; Meinke, Martina C.; Lademann, Jürgen

doi:10.1017/s1368980018002525

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The systematic review of the observational studies analyzing the association between the intake of fruit and vegetable and mental health in adults revealed the possible beneficial influence of the indicated products. This association was studied for various aspects of mental health, ranging from general and mental well-being [35,45,49,62,68,77,82,84,94], quality of life [36,39,42,43,47,55,70], sleep quality [55], life satisfaction [50,66,82], flourishing [50], mood [50,62,68,77,81], self-efficacy [56], curiosity [68], creativity [68], optimism [91,93], self-esteem [90], stress [40,48,67,71,73,80,89,92], nervousness [82], or happiness [52,59,65,82], to anxiety [35,…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mental Health in Adults: A Systematic Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The role of a properly balanced diet in the prevention and treatment of mental disorders has been suggested, while vegetables and fruits have a high content of nutrients that may be of importance in the case of depressive disorders. The aim of the study was to conduct a systematic review of the observational studies analyzing association between fruit and vegetable intake and mental health in adults. The search adhered to the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), and the review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) database (CRD42019138148). A search for peer-reviewed observational studies published until June 2019 was performed in PubMed and Web of Science databases, followed by an additional manual search for publications conducted via analyzing the references of the found studies. With respect to the intake of fruit and/or vegetable, studies that assessed the intake of fruits and/or vegetables, or their processed products (e.g., juices), as a measure expressed in grams or as the number of portions were included. Those studies that assessed the general dietary patterns were not included in the present analysis. With respect to mental health, studies that assessed all the aspects of mental health in both healthy participants and subjects with physical health problems were included, but those conducted in groups of patients with intellectual disabilities, dementia, and eating disorders were excluded. To assess bias, the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) was applied. A total of 5911 studies were independently extracted by 2 researchers and verified if they met the inclusion criteria using a 2-stage procedure (based on the title, based on the abstract). After reviewing the full text, a total of 61 studies were selected. A narrative synthesis of the findings from the included studies was performed, which was structured around the type of outcome. The studies included mainly focused on depression and depressive symptoms, but also other characteristics ranging from general and mental well-being, quality of life, sleep quality, life satisfaction, flourishing, mood, self-efficacy, curiosity, creativity, optimism, self-esteem, stress, nervousness, or happiness, to anxiety, minor psychiatric disorders, distress, or attempted suicide, were analyzed. The most prominent results indicated that high total intake of fruits and vegetables, and some of their specific subgroups including berries, citrus, and green leafy vegetables, may promote higher levels of optimism and self-efficacy, as well as reduce the level of psychological distress, ambiguity, and cancer fatalism, and protect against depressive symptoms. However, it must be indicated that the studies included were conducted using various methodologies and in different populations, so their results were not always sufficiently comparable, which is a limitation. Taken together, it can be concluded that fruits and/or vegetables, and some of their specific subgroups, as well as processed fruits and vegetables, seems to have a positive influence on mental health, as stated in the vast majority of the included studies. Therefore, the general recommendation to consume at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day may be beneficial also for mental health.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mental Health in Adults: A Systematic Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This study confirms that higher vegetable and fruit consumption and physical activity are protective against cognitive decline in older adults. Vegetables and fruits are rich in antioxidant vitamins and nutrients, compounds that are considered important for the protection against oxidative stress and inflammation, which, in turn, have been shown to play a role in the early pathophysiology of cognitive decline (Hajjar et al, 2018;Gehlich et al, 2019). Moreover, vegetables and fruits might affects the composition of the gut microbiota and stimulate a positive modulation of the gut-brain axis, which might be another mechanistic pathway to impact cognitive health (Pistollato et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of Lifestyle Factors With Cognition in Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 50 and Older: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Huang

Guo

Ruan

et al. 2020

Front. Aging Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…At the same time, including these covariates could not substantially explain declines in young and middle-aged adults. Thus, further research must examine age-specific risk factors for depression that might explain these differential effects, such as problematic social media use, or changes in other lifestyle factors [3,25,26]. Another methodological explanation is that cognitive biases might have unduly influenced self-reports.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In their study, the depression prevalence was found to be relatively constant overall. However, the authors also found a shift in the age distribution in women, with significant increases in the depression prevalence among the young age group (age [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], no significant change in the middle-aged age group (age 35-49) and a significant decrease in the old age group (age 50-65). All studies point towards the need to further study cross-temporal differences in depression, considering the whole lifespan and using multi-national samples.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Decline of depressive symptoms in Europe: differential trends across the lifespan

Beller

Regidor

Lostao

et al. 2020

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose We examined changes in the burden of depressive symptoms between 2006 and 2014 in 18 European countries across different age groups. Methods We used population-based data drawn from the European Social Survey (N = 64.683, 54% female, age 14–90 years) covering 18 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) from 2006 to 2014. Depressive symptoms were measured via the CES-D 8. Generalized additive models, multilevel regression, and linear regression analyses were conducted. Results We found a general decline in CES-D 8 scale scores in 2014 as compared with 2006, with only few exceptions in some countries. This decline was most strongly pronounced in older adults, less strongly in middle-aged adults, and least in young adults. Including education, health and income partially explained the decline in older but not younger or middle-aged adults. Conclusions Burden of depressive symptoms decreased in most European countries between 2006 and 2014. However, the decline in depressive symptoms differed across age groups and was most strongly pronounced in older adults and least in younger adults. Future studies should investigate the mechanisms that contribute to these overall and differential changes over time in depressive symptoms.

show abstract

Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with improved mental and cognitive health in older adults from non-Western developing countries

Cited by 30 publications

References 46 publications

Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mental Health in Adults: A Systematic Review

Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mental Health in Adults: A Systematic Review

Associations of Lifestyle Factors With Cognition in Community-Dwelling Adults Aged 50 and Older: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Decline of depressive symptoms in Europe: differential trends across the lifespan

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About