Secret Anti-Depression Booster Can Be Found Not At A Pharmacy But In Your Kitchen’s Pantry: How You Can Eat Your Way Out Of Depression
We live in truly amazing times when it comes to medical advances. Almost every day you can read about some new cure for some malady or at least a promising study that may one day lead to such a cure.
And while death rates due to the top nine killers like cancer and heart disease continue to drop, suicide is the singular cause of death that is on the rise. And of course depression at least plays a role in suicide, which makes a trio of new studies on free radicals and antioxidants and their possible effect on depression something worth taking a second look at.
In fact, if the studies are to be believed, simply eating more fruits and vegetables may be an effective tool in combating depression, especially one particular class of fruits and vegetables.
One study looked at a group of some 300,000 Canadians and found clear evidence that higher fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with reduced odds of depression, psychological distress, mood and anxiety disorders and poor mental health as perceived by the patient.
The conclusion the study’s authors came to is that, since a healthy diet that includes a high intake of fruits and vegetables is rich in antioxidants, such a diet may consequently reduce the damaging effects that oxidative stress imposes on mental health.
A second study measured blood carotenoid level in 200 Americans across the U.S., and found that higher levels were indeed linked to reduced chances of depressive symptoms. They also found that there was what they called a “dose-response relationship,” meaning that the higher the levels of carotenoids, the better people felt.
A third study looked at around 1,000 older men and women, and found that those who ate the most tomatoes and tomato products were at about half the risk of depression as their compatriots who did not eat as much. One conclusion researchers can come to is that the lycopene present in tomatoes (as well as in watermelon, grapefruit and papaya) has a strong association with battling depression.
To be sure, other studies that looked at people who ate more processed food instead of fresh fruits and vegetables found a higher rate of depression the processed food group. So it is possible there is another mechanism at work besides the lycopene.
However, if eating a few tomatoes per week has even a chance of reducing the symptoms of depression, plus with their well-known other health benefits, why wouldn’t you go for it?
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http://www.care2.com/greenliving/fighting-depression-with-antioxidants.html