Mental well-being was consistently associated with an individual’s fruit and vegetable consumption, according to research conducted by the University of Warwick’s Medical School using data from the Health Survey for England, and published by BMJ Open.

According to results, 33.5% of respondents with high mental well-being ate 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day, compared with only 6.8% who ate less than one portion. Commenting on the findings, Dr. Saverio Stranges, the research paper’s lead author, said: “The data suggest that higher an individual’s fruit and vegetable intake the lower the chance of their having low mental well-being.”

Results also showed 31.4% of those with high mental well-being ate 3-4 portions and 28.4% ate one-two.

Other health-related behaviors were found to be associated with mental well-being, but along with smoking only fruit and vegetable consumption was consistently associated in both men and women. Alcohol intake and obesity were not associated with high mental well-being.

Commenting on the findings, Dr. Stranges, the research paper’s lead author, said: “Along with smoking, fruit and vegetable consumption was the health-related behavior most consistently associated with both low and high mental well-being. These novel findings suggest that fruit and vegetable intake may play a potential role as a driver, not just of physical, but also of mental well-being in the general population.”

Low mental well-being is strongly linked to mental illness and mental health problems, but high mental well-being is more than the absence of symptoms or illness, it is a state in which people feel good and function well. Optimism, happiness, self-esteem, resilience and good relationships with others are all part of this state. Mental well-being is important not just to protect people from mental illness but because it protects people against common and serious physical diseases.

Discussing the implications of the research, co-author Professor Sarah Stewart-Brown said: “Mental illness is hugely costly to both the individual and society, and mental well-being underpins many physical diseases, unhealthy lifestyles and social inequalities in health. It has become very important that we begin to research the factors that enable people to maintain a sense of well-being.

“Our findings add to the mounting evidence that fruit and vegetable intake could be one such factor and mean that people are likely to be able to enhance their mental well-being at the same time as preventing heart disease and cancer.”

Mental well-being was assessed using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), in which the top 15% of participants categorized as having High mental well-being, the bottom 15% Low and the middle 16-84% as Middle.

The research involved 14,000 participants in England aged 16 or over, with 56% of those being female and 44% male, as part of the Health Survey for England, which saw detailed information collected on mental and physical health, health related behaviors, demographics and socio-economic characteristics.