Nutrition and Mental Health Part 10 — Correlations between mental health and diet

They can be complex and challenging, as there are many variables to consider. The first question to ask ourselves would be: Is the poor mental health effect of poor diet, is poor diet an effect of poor mental health, or is this a self-sustaining vicious circle? The latest seems to be the right answer, as the relationship seems to be bidirectional.

Physical activity is a confounding variable, as when we are physically active, we also have a better diet and better mental health. But the thing is, we cannot take into account every possible confounding factor, so, a clear single correlation of which is the effect and which is the cause is sometimes impossible to determine.

Back to our subject, we were talking last time about food frequency questionnaires and how they are used around the world, to asses diet habits. What did we find out? First of all, at the top of the list, almost no one is eating the right amount of vegetables. Based on 2015 US data, only 9% of the adults met their vegetable recommendations, and only 12% met their fruit recommendations. More numbers? The cost of not eating your fruit and veg is higher than $3B per year, and just by adding one serving of veg and one serving of fruit to your daily diet, you can save more than $9B per year in health care cost. More? A US…